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 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY THE 
 FAMILY OF 
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SOME ACCOUNT 
 
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 THE SOCIETY 
 
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 THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 BY ALEXANDER JOHNSTON. 
 
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€"lie lorirfij nf tjie CinriEmrti. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the 
 
 Historical Society of Pennsylvania: 
 
 When I accepted the flattering invitation to read a 
 paper before this Society, I recollected that I had certain 
 facilities of access to a new and original source of infor- 
 mation, capable of throwing light upon a subject con- 
 nected with our Revolutionary annals, which has hitherto 
 met with a neglect on the part of historians that is easily 
 accounted for — not because the matter itself is of second- 
 ary consideration, but because of the great poverty of 
 material. 
 
 I am indebted to the Secretary-General of the Society 
 of the Cincinnati for the liberty of referring to the archives 
 of that institution. 
 
 I soon found myself embarrassed with the riches of a 
 chest containing all the inedited correspondence and the 
 other records that have been accumulated since the forma- 
 tion of the Society. 
 
 2 (17) 
 
 t/j V i 
 
18 
 
 the society of 
 
 
 Here are the 
 
 autographs of 
 
 
 Washington, 
 
 Pinckney, 
 
 Lincoln, 
 
 Lafayette, 
 
 Moultrie, 
 
 St. Clair, 
 
 Hamilton, 
 
 Steuben, 
 
 Putnam, and 
 
 Knox, 
 
 Mifflin, 
 
 Paul Jones. 
 
 Gates, 
 
 VV AY NL, 
 
 
 Greene, 
 
 Lee, 
 
 
 of ROCHAMBEAU^ 
 
 Destouches, 
 
 DE Segur, 
 
 Luzerne, 
 
 GOUVION, 
 
 The Prince de 
 
 d'Estaing, 
 
 Du Plessis, 
 
 CoNDE, and 
 
 de la Grasse, 
 
 DE NOAILLES, 
 
 Louis XYL 
 
 These, with many others, the most distinguished names 
 of the most distinguished era in our national history, gave 
 importance to the documents over which I had control, 
 and sufficiently impressed me with the dignity of my 
 subject. ■ ^ ' 
 
 But, as this rare and interesting repository is shortly to 
 pass into abler hands than mine, I dipped but sparingly 
 into its contents ; using it rather to modify or embellish 
 what I could derive from other sources, than to anticipate 
 by any feeble effort of my own the pleasant task of a 
 more extended compilation. Still, I adhered to my origi- 
 nal design; and, in the paper which I will have the honour 
 to read before you this evening, I propose to give some 
 account of the Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 The close of the Revolutionary War was a critical period 
 in the history of the infant Republic. After hostilities 
 had ceased, but while Sir Guy Carleton still held the city 
 of New York, and before the terms of a definite treaty 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 19 
 
 of peace had been duly settled, the American forces lay 
 
 encamped at Newburgh, on the banks of the Hudson. 
 
 No longer occupied by dangers from without^ their 
 
 thoughts naturally turned to the change that would be 
 
 effected in their condition at the disband ment of the armv. 
 
 %/ 
 
 The din of battle was hushed, the clouds of smoke which 
 had enveloped the field were risen; and they saw before 
 them, dimly enough, an uncertain prospect, which the 
 spirit of mutiny threatened to invest with all its former 
 darkness. 
 
 Eight years had elapsed since the first blood was spilled 
 at Lexington. The ploughshares and pruning-hooks which 
 were then beaten into deadlier weapons, had since become 
 well-tempered steel, and were not so easily to be beaten 
 again into ploughshares and pruning-hooks. 
 
 The soldiers, drafted as they were from every condition 
 in life, had lost in that interval some their tastes for 
 the arts of peace, and others their skill in cultivating 
 them — the craftsman his cunning, the lawyer his learn- 
 ing, the man of letters his fondness for books. Both officers 
 and men easilv foresaw the embarrassments that awaited 
 their retirement from the field. They knew that with 
 their arms the}' would put off much of the military 
 j)restige that sustained them during the conflict, and, 
 thrown upon their own meagre resources, their depend- 
 ence must be slight in the extreme. The arrearages of 
 pay already amounted to a heavy debt, for which no ade- 
 quate provision had been made. In this extremitj^, they 
 looked to the Congress then assembled in Philadelphia. 
 But here they were met by a temporizing policy, com- 
 
20 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 plaints of an exhausted exchequer, and the claims of the 
 toga once more to assert its ascendency — an opposition 
 chiefly due to the influence exerted outside of the Hall, 
 by such as had idly awaited the issue of the war, but who 
 were now, of a sudden, become clamorously patriotic. 
 
 These watchful guardians of the commonweal, with an 
 alacrity they never exhibited in the hour of real peril, 
 flew to their pens, and became " Cassius " and " Civis," 
 "Yox Populi" and " Publicola," in the journals and 
 pamphlets of the day. They looked with a jealous eye 
 upon the proposal to found a retired list, or anything in 
 the nature of a pension to smooth the declining years, or 
 to support the impoverished families, of those who had 
 left their homes in the hour of need, to lay down their 
 lives for their country. They aflected to see in this 
 simple act of justice something fatal to the spirit of 
 equality, and declared that half-pay for life was but the 
 first step towards the introduction of a privileged class of 
 stipendiaries upon the common purse. 
 
 Nevertheless, a bill to that eflect was actually passed ; 
 but, backed as it was by neither coin nor credit, to give it 
 due significance, a proposal to commute the half-pay for 
 life to five years' full-pay, was generally acceded to ; and 
 certificates indefinitely promissory were issued on the faith 
 of the Congress. These tickets of commutation were freely 
 parted with by the needy beneficiaries of so slender a 
 bounty, to the more provident civilians, at the ruinous 
 depreciation of six shillings in the pound. 
 
 Whilst these things were agitating the calmer councils 
 of a deliberative body, the turbulence in the camp had 
 
THE CI X CI XX ATI. 
 
 21 
 
 reached a formidable pitch, and the murmurs of the dis- 
 affected soon claimed the serious attention of the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief The desperate alternative was even 
 proposed of relinquishing the service in a body if the 
 war continued, or. in case of peace, still to retain their 
 arms, in defiance of the civil authority. A military dic- 
 tatorship was held preferable to a condition of things 
 where sufferings and privations such as they had just 
 undergone could be slightingly passed over hy an un- 
 grateful republic. The signs of disaffection spread beyond 
 the limits of the camp : wherever a soldier was to be 
 found, the rebellious spirit was extant. Soon after, at 
 Philadelphia, a band of military insurgents menaced the 
 hall of legislation itself, an^l the representatives of the 
 people were obliged to seek refuge in Princeton from the 
 dangers of an assault. 
 
 It was then that AA^ashington exhibited that exquisite 
 tact that has more than once saved his country; when, 
 without compromising his dignity, he could pay a proper 
 deference to either extreme of party, and. by marshahng 
 together the allied forces of mutual concession, courtesy, 
 and kindness, put to rout the spirits of discord, with a 
 skill far beyondt the most brilliant exploits of strategy. 
 His moderate counsels soon calmed the general agitation; 
 and everywhere order and discipline were once more re- 
 stored, within the sphere of that august presence. 
 
 MeauAvhile. certain of his companions in arms, fully 
 impressed with the danger of the doctrines that had been 
 broached in their midst, determined to mark their disap- 
 probation by some signal device ; and happily hit upon an 
 
22 THESOCIETYOF 
 
 expedient that met with the cordial approval of their 
 illustrious chief. 
 
 The human mind is so constituted as naturally to seek 
 in signs and symbols those impressions which a simple 
 abstract idea is incapable of fully imparting. The very 
 term impression is co-relative to something palpably obtru- 
 sive ; and to overlook this principle argues a weakness of 
 philosophy which, as well in religion as in politics, must 
 eventually yield to the natural cravings of the common 
 mind. It is all very true, and no one will deny the pro- 
 position, that it is the part of a good citizen, in time of 
 peace, to lay down the arms he has assumed in time of 
 war. But let some outward sign — a statue, a picture, a 
 w?e6?aZ — indicate the profound veneration in which the 
 virtues of a good citizen are held, who, in his own con- 
 duct, exemplified this truth at an earlier period of the 
 world's history; and the precept thus strikingly set off 
 by the historical precedent, will arrest the attention of 
 every observer. — 
 
 Such were the sentiments that animated the hearts of 
 some of the most gallant officers of the American army, 
 on the 10th of May, 1783; when they met together on 
 the borders of the Hudson, and, converting the name of 
 the Roman dictator into a Latin plural, called themselves 
 " The Society of the Cincinnati." 
 
 Noble and patriotic as the motives were that led to this 
 combination in the first instance, other and equally generous 
 feelings conspired to give additional respect to the under- 
 taking. 
 
 Comrades in arms who had fought side by side in the 
 
T in: CINCINNATI. 
 
 23 
 
 bloody fields of the Revolution, were about to be separated — 
 the closest iDtimacies were to be severed — and they longed 
 for some link that would still unite them together at 
 periodical intervals, when they could revive around the 
 social board the scenes of their past privations and repeated 
 triumphs. They set aside for their annual festivity the 
 day on which the Declaration of Independence was signed — 
 since become the national anniversary. 
 . Besides this, the society was to be eleemosynary — each 
 officer contributing one month's pay toward the creation 
 of a fund for the support of indigent widows and orphans 
 of deceased members. 
 
 Another and most important object was to confer appro- 
 priate honours upon their noble allies, the officers of the 
 French army and navy, who had so materially assisted 
 them in the late struggle. 
 
 ■ The plan had been previously communicated to the 
 several regiments, who appointed an officer from each ; and 
 these, in conjunction with the general officers, formed the 
 preliminary meeting. 
 
 Baron de Steuben, Major-General, and the senior officer 
 present, was called to the chair. The proposals were then 
 read and adopted — and Major-General Knox, Brigadier- 
 Generals Hand and Huntington, and Captain Shaw, were 
 chosen a committee to revise the same, and to report at 
 the next meeting. 
 
 Agreeably to adjournment, the representatives of the 
 army met together three days after, at the quarters of 
 Baron de Steuben, and then and there the institution of 
 the order was duly accepted 
 
24 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 The three fandamental articles upon which it is based/ 
 are these : 
 
 An incessant attention to preserve inviolate those 
 exalted rights and liberties of human nature, for which 
 they had fought and bled, and, without which, the high 
 rank of a rational being is a curse instead of a 
 blessing. 
 
 An unalterable determination to promote and cherish 
 between the respective States, that union and national 
 honour, so essentially necessary to their happiness and the 
 future dignity of the American Empire. 
 
 To render permanent the cordial affection subsisting 
 among the officers. 
 
 All the officers of the American army, as well as those 
 who had resigned with honour, after three years' service in 
 the capacity of officers, or who had been deranged by the 
 resolutions of Congress, upon the several reforms of the 
 army, as well as those who should have continued to the 
 end of the war, had the right to become parties to the 
 institution, provided they subscribed one month's pay, and 
 signed their names to the general rules. 
 
 The General Society, for the sake of frequent communi- 
 cations, was divided into State Societies. 
 
 The President General was directed to transmit as soon 
 as might be, to each of the personages hereafter named, a 
 medal containing the Order of the Society, viz : 
 
 His Excellency, the Cheyalier de la Luzerne, Minister 
 Plenipotentiary. 
 
 His Excellency, the Sieur Gerard, late Minister Pleni- 
 potentiary. 
 
THE CI X CI XX ATI, 
 
 25 
 
 Their Excellencies^ 
 
 The Count d'Estaing, 
 The CouxT DE Grasse, 
 The CouxT DE Bareas^ 
 The Chevalier de Touches, 
 
 Admirals and Commanders in the Navy. 
 ; His Excellency, the Couxt de Rochambeau, Commander- 
 in-Chief of the French forces. 
 
 And the Generals and Colonels of his army, ar.d acquaint 
 them, that the Society did themselves the honour to con- 
 sider them as members. 
 
 Generals Heath, Steuben, and Knox, were appointed a 
 committee to wait on his Excellency, the Commander-in- 
 Chief, with a copy of the institution, and request him to 
 honour the society by placing his name at the head of it. 
 
 Major L'Enfant of the French engineers, who, like the 
 unfortunate Andre, of the same rank in the British armj', 
 was an accomplished draughtsman, took charge of the 
 decorations ; under his supervision they were executed in 
 Paris, and to his taste the Societv is indebted for that 
 graceful design. 
 
 It consists of a bald eagle of enamelled gold, bearing 
 upon its breast a medallion charged as follows : on the 
 obverse, the principal figure is Cincinnatus ; three senators 
 present him with a sword and other military ensigns ; he 
 is reclining upon his plough, and at his side are minor 
 implements of husbandry. On the reverse, the sun rises 
 over a city with open gates, vessels are seen entering the 
 port, and in the midst. Fame crowns Cincinnatus with a 
 wreath, inscribed, " Yirtutis i^remiumr Below, hands joined 
 
26 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 support a heart, with the motto, Esto perpetual The 
 whole is pendent to a blue ribbon edged with white, 
 descriptive of the union between France and America. 
 Around the principal charge is the legend, Omnia relin- 
 quit servare rempuhlicam!' — a piece of latinity of question- 
 able elegance. 
 
 But it was the motto, Esto perpetua,'' unexceptionable 
 Latin, but dangerous doctrine, that raised an outcry against 
 this new feature in the State, which, at our day, seems 
 perfectly incredible. : 
 
 To perpetuate the memory of an eventful period — to 
 raise the glow of generous emulation in the breast of 
 posterity — to supply the broken links in an endless chain 
 of good fellowship — it was decreed that the eagle should 
 descend from father to son, according to the law of primo- 
 geniture, or, in failure of issue, to his collateral heirs in 
 the due line of inheritance for ever. 
 
 Then it was that "Cassius" and "Civis," " Yox Populi" 
 and " Publicola," once more flew to their pens. The half- 
 pay had been obnoxious enough, but now the pack opened 
 in full cry. 
 
 At that time, pamphlets were the favourite vehicles for 
 conveying political squibs, and giving vent to all that 
 ephemeral passion which now finds an outlet in popular 
 harangues and the daily journals. Pamphleteering, indeed, 
 had reached the dignity of a separate profession. The 
 booksellers were flooded with transitory productions, that 
 soon found their way to the trunk-makers, some of which, 
 by their whimsical titles, still attract the attention of the 
 curious in literature. 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 ^danus Burke, an eccentrlo Irishman, who held a seat 
 on the supreme bench of South Carolina, had read the 
 famous letters of Junius, and emulous of a similar dis- 
 tinction, headed the conspiracy; he called himself "Cassius," 
 and wrote a violmt tirade against the Society. 
 
 He proved conclusively to many apprehensions, by a 
 
 specious train of argument, that the whole object of the 
 
 institution was to undermine the Eepublic, to usurp the 
 
 supreme power of the State, and to fix upon the succeeding 
 
 generation an hereditary race of patricians, as powerful as 
 
 any that prevail in the monarchies of Europe. The 
 
 descendants of this military order of knighthood and their 
 
 connections would form the nobihty on one side, and the 
 
 mass of the people on the other would be an insignificant 
 
 rabble. He called upon posterity to mark his words. For, 
 
 as he argued, the evil, countenanced as it was by so man}^ 
 
 powerful names, was past a remedy. The vile contrivance, 
 
 fraught Avith destruction, had already been dragged to the 
 
 citadel — and, like Cassandra or the high priest of Apollo, 
 
 he only shrieked in despair his prophetic warning, 
 
 . ■ summa decurrit ab arce 
 
 Et procul, 0 Miseri ! qujB taiita insania cives ? 
 
 The pamphlet was ably written, and caused no little 
 sensation. The legislatures of some of the States appointed 
 committees to inquire into the grievance. In every instance 
 the report was unfavourable. Rhode Island disfranchised 
 such of its citizens as were members of the Society; and 
 Massachusetts declared it to be dangerous to the peace, 
 liberty, and safety of the Union." 
 
 The consternation crossed the Atlantic. The celebrated 
 
 QTl^. 
 
 STATE UMk^ 
 
28 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 Mirabeau, prince of pamphleteers, then an exile in London, 
 amidst dissertations on the opening of the Scheldt, on 
 Stock Jobbing, Cagliostro and the diamond necklace, the 
 Bank of St. Charles, and such like farrago, edited a French 
 version of Burke's pamphlet, with copious annotations, in 
 'which he was assisted by his friend and faithful adherent, 
 Nicholas Chamfort. 
 
 The future leader of the National Assembly, in memory 
 of his extraction, recalls a scrap of Florentine history as 
 a case in point. " It will not be contended," he says, " that 
 the caprice or superstition of the rich and powerful men 
 who gave birth to the orders of the Garter, the Golden 
 Fleece, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick, was a cause so big 
 with important consequences, as the favourable opportunity 
 which the authors of the American Revolution have seized 
 on, and the obvious designs that they manifest. No order 
 of knighthood can bear comparison with theirs, but one, 
 and that with disadvantage, the military order of St. 
 Stephen, of Tuscany, instituted by the first great Duke 
 Cosmo de Medicis, in commemoration of the battle of 
 Marciano, in which the Republican party was utterly 
 defeated. This, as is well known, was the last blow given 
 to the Commonwealth of Florence, and the monument of 
 its destruction." 
 
 But Mirabeau upon Burke was not half so learned a 
 commentator as Time upon both of them. And we, of 
 the present generation, who have read the works of this 
 ]ast great author, and edax verum, know more about the 
 matter than all the wise-acres that have ever put pen to 
 paper. 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 29 
 
 MeanwhilGj as may be imagined, the friends of the 
 Society were not idle. Burke's pamphlet met with a 
 prompt reply. But the zeal of some of its advocates carried 
 them beyond the bounds of discretion. 
 
 In a sermon preached before the Cincinnati at Phila- 
 delphia, they were addressed by the worshipful title of 
 
 the most worthy and at the annual meeting of the New 
 York Society, a demonstration was made that was prompted 
 by all the spirit of opposition. 
 
 On this occasion they determined to initiate the honorary 
 members who had been newly elected, by the ceremony of 
 a formal investiture. The assembly room at the City 
 Tavern was the scene of the solemnity. The outside of 
 the house was decorated with festoons and crowns of laurel 
 — opposite the door of entrance, on a dais tapestried with 
 blue cloth, was elevated a great chair of state covered with 
 light blue satin, fringed with white; at the back of this, 
 was a staff supported by two hands united holding up the 
 cap of liberty, which was again grasped b}' the eagle of the 
 Order, bearing on a white fillet the motto, " ^Ye will defend 
 it." At each extremity of the room amphitheatres were 
 erected for the spectators. 
 
 A deputation consisting of four members dressed in their 
 uniforms, and wearing their eagles, first waited on the 
 Governor of the State and the President of Congress with 
 the congratulations of the Society on the anniversary of 
 American Independence. After their return with the 
 report, that they had been received with all the attention 
 due to the dignity of their Order, the ceremony commenced. 
 
 The foreign members, and such as belonged to the other 
 
30 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 societies, had already taken their seats on the left of the 
 chair. The kettle-drums and trumpets, an important part 
 of the performance, were stationed in the gallery over the 
 door, and the amjohi theatres were filled with spectators, 
 when the standard-bearer, Captain Guyon, in full continental 
 uniform, wearing his order, and escorted by four members, 
 also in full dress, entered the hall, and took his position in 
 front of the dais. He held in his hand the standard of 
 the Society. It was wrought in silk, displaying the eagle, 
 upon thirteen alternate stripes of white and blue. The 
 escort returned ; and, led by the Masters of Ceremony, the 
 procession then entered the hall. First came the members, 
 two and two, followed by the secretary, Captain Pemberton, 
 carrying the original institution of the Society. Then 
 came the treasurer. General Yan Cortlandt, and his deputy, 
 Major Piatt, bearing two satin cushions, on the first of 
 which were displayed the eagles, and on the second the 
 diplomas for the elected members. These were followed 
 by the Vice-President, General Schuyler, and the President, 
 Major-General Baron de Steuben, who brought up the rear. 
 At his entrance, the standard saluted, and the kettle-drums 
 and trumpets gave a flourish, which continued until passing 
 through the avenue now formed by the members opening 
 to the right and left, he mounted the steps and took his 
 seat upon the Chair of State. 
 
 When this was done. Colonel Hamilton, soldier, orator, 
 and statesman, pronounced the inaugural address. After 
 which the ceremony of investiture commenced. 
 
 The recipient was conducted by one of the Masters of 
 Ceremony to the first step before the chair of the President, 
 
THE CIX CIXX ATI. 
 
 31 
 
 and tlie standard-bearer approached. After expressing a 
 desire to be received into the Society, and promising a 
 strict observance of its rules and statutes, he grasped the 
 standard with his left hand, while with his right he signed 
 his name to the Institution. The President then took one 
 of the eagles from the cushion held by the treasurer, and 
 invested the recipient in the following words : Receive 
 this mark as a recompense for your merit, and in remem- 
 brance of our glorious independence." Xext, handing him 
 a diploma, he said, This will show your title as a member 
 of our Society. Imitate the illustrious hero, Lucius 
 Quintius Cincinnatus, whom we have chosen for our patron : 
 like him, be the defender of your country, and a good 
 citizen."' Another flourish of drums and trumpets completed 
 the ceremony, and the new member was introduced to the 
 Cincinnati at large, who rose in a body to salute him. 
 This was succeeded by a brilliant festival, which, amidst 
 salvos of artillery, terminated the day. 
 
 But it was in the gay capital of France — the land of 
 forms and ceremonies, of rank and title, of martial enthu- 
 siasm, and decaying grandeur that the Society acquired a 
 distinction it never possessed on this side of the Atlantic. 
 
 The young Marquis de Lafayette — the Scipio Ameri- 
 canus, fresh from the scene of his glory, presented himself 
 at the foot of the throne, and sought permission from his 
 Sovereign to wear, along ^^■ith his cross of the most ancient 
 and honourable Order of St. Louis, the illustrious eagle of 
 Cincinnatus. The only foreign Order suffered to be worn 
 in the service of His Most Christian Majesty was that of 
 the Golden Fleece; but, by a signal act of condescension, 
 
32 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 the especial privilege was accorded to the French Cincinnati 
 of appearing at court with the new decoration. 
 
 Lafayette^ who lived with Washington upon terms of 
 domesticity that savoured more of the relation between 
 father and son than of ordinary friends, received from him 
 as President-General the first account of the formation of 
 the Society, The young enthusiast, then only twenty-six 
 years of age, acknowledged the honour in language which 
 does credit to the warmth of his feelings. 
 
 " When he thought that his letter would be read among 
 representatives from all the lines of the army," he declared, 
 that his heart glowed with the most unbounded sentiments 
 of affection and gratitude. How pleasing it was for him 
 to recollect their common toils, dangers, turns of fortune, 
 and that lively attachment which united them to each 
 other under their beloved General. Never could his heart 
 forget the return of affection he had particularly obtained, 
 the number of obligations he was under to his dear brother 
 officers, and the happy hours, the happiest in his life, which 
 he had passed in their company." 
 
 Versailles at that time exhibited all the vivid, but 
 flickering brilliancy that precedes extinction. It was the 
 interval when, indeed, the age of chivalry was gone, but 
 before that, of sophisters, calculators, and economists, had 
 entirely succeeded, and while the glory of Europe" still 
 played in a parting halo about the throne of the Bourbon. 
 
 The officers who had returned from the New World, 
 flushed with the recent triumph of the French arms, were 
 flattered with the smiles of a gay and enthusiastic court. 
 To bear about with them the distinguishing mark of their 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 gallantry, whether it was at the ceremonials of the palace, 
 in the smaller coteries of the Trianon, or in the salons of 
 the capital, was the ambition of every one who had served 
 in the war. The sum of 60,000 livres w^as voluntarily 
 subscribed by the officers of the army, a similar amount 
 was to be made up by the fleet, and ail to be transmitted 
 to the General Society in America. But these liberal 
 offers, by a nice sense of delicacy, were respectfully de- 
 clined. Petitions and memorials poured in upon the 
 General Society, on the part of claimants who had been 
 overlooked in the distribution of the much-coveted honour. 
 These were accompanied by all the necessary vouchers, 
 affidavits before notaries public, recommendations by their 
 superior officers, and the chief ministers of the crown, and, 
 in one instance, a certificate in the sign-manual of the king 
 himself 
 
 One had been a prisoner in England ; another had been 
 recalled at an early stage of the war; one had been pro- 
 moted for his gallantry at the siege of Savannah ; another 
 had served under Paul Jones in his glorious engagement 
 with the Serapis. The Chevalier de Lameth pointed to 
 his wounds received at Yorktown, and the eldest son of 
 De Kalb claimed in right of his father. 
 
 Diplomas had been issued only to the generals and 
 colonels of regiments and legions of the land forces, and 
 to the admirals of the navy. But the captains of the 
 navy declared that they ranked as colonels in the army, 
 and asked in their turn for the mark of merit. On the 
 representations of Rochambeau, D'Estaing, and Lafayette, 
 their diplomas were despatched by an early packet. To 
 3 
 
34 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 exhibit their gratitude, they caused to be made a brilliant 
 decoration, after the model of the one already adopted, 
 but richly set with diamonds, and surrounded by an 
 emerald wreath of laurel. This was presented to the 
 first President-General, in the name of the French naval 
 marine ; and, since the days of Washington, it has been 
 regularly transmitted to each of his successors in office, 
 and is now worn by the Hon. Hamilton Fish, of New^ 
 York. 
 
 In fact, our allies looked upon the Society as created 
 entirely for their own distinction, and such is the account 
 that Rochambeau himself gives in his Memoirs. So to 
 this day with Van Blaremberg's picture of the surrender 
 of York town, in the gallery of Versailles. The French 
 general and his staff", with Lord Cornwallis, fill up the 
 foreground of the picture, whilst the American army is 
 lost in the vanishing lines of the perspective. 
 
 The badge of the Society, worn on public occasions, 
 both in court pageantries and at the military reviews, soon 
 became familiar to the eyes of the people ; and, a few 
 years afterwards, it was called to mind with an ominous 
 significance. 
 
 It was on the day of the first popular outbreak, the 
 memorable 12th of July, 1789, that Camille Desmoulins, 
 breathless from Versailles with the news of Neckar's dis- 
 missal, mounted a table in the garden of the Palais Royal, 
 and proposed that first of all considerations in French 
 revolutions — a cockade. "What shall it be?" he ex- 
 claimed to the excited multitude around. " Shall it be 
 green, the colour of hope ? or shall it be blue, the colour 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 35 
 
 of the Cincinnati and of American independence ?" Voices 
 in the crowd called out. Let it be green, the colour of 
 hope I'' and thus the ribbon of the Order vras saved the 
 disgrace of being affixed to the red cap of the sans 
 cidottes. 
 
 But green, the colour of hope, was found to be also the 
 
 colour of the Count d'Artois' liveries ; so it was forced to 
 
 eive wav to red and blue, the colours of the arms of Paris. 
 1—1/ ' 
 
 But these again were the colours of Orleans, not yet 
 Egcdite ; and soon afterwards Lafayette himself then in 
 command of the National Guards, at the Hotel -de- VlUe, 
 introduced a conservative strip of the old national white; 
 and thus the renowned tricolor became the flag of France. 
 
 But we must leave the tricolor, and return to the stars 
 and stripes. 
 
 'When the first effervescence was over, the opposition in 
 America rapidly declined. The active energies of the 
 country began to develop themselves ; the popular senti- 
 ment took a new turn : and the Cincinnati were suffered 
 to spend the Fourth of July after their own fashion. 
 And. surely, nothing could be more attractive than these 
 annual gatherings; nor could anything be so well calcu- 
 lated to foster the spirit of 'T6. With a proper regard to 
 the principles of their Order (for the Xew York demon- 
 stration was an exception to the rule), they laid aside, on 
 these festive occasions, the military blue coat, with its 
 broad buff facings, but still retained the cocked-hat. knee- 
 breeches, and small-sword. The crowning grace of the 
 costume was the hair, carefully powdered, and brought 
 down behind to a pig-tail, always an object of tender 
 
36 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 solicitude. Here the veterans of the war met as boon 
 companions, and fought their battles over again. The 
 vacant sleeve of one, pinned up to his shoulder, told of 
 the arm he had lost at Trenton or the Brandywine. 
 Another had replaced with a wooden substitute the leg he 
 had left on the bloody field of Monmouth. Scarce a soul 
 of them but had some scar to remind him of the recent 
 struggle. The talk was about Sumpter's brigade and 
 Tarleton's legion; or of ^^Mad Anthony" at the head of 
 Febiger's regiment, when they carried the garrison of 
 Stony Point; or, perhaps, it was about the new constitu- 
 tion, or the prospect of a war with their ancient allies. 
 The conviviality was loud and long, for they drank deep 
 in those days. At a late period of the evening, a tankard 
 of some generous liquor would be passed from mouth to 
 mouth ; and, as it made the orbit of the table, would 
 describe upon its own axis a very large segment of a 
 circle. It was the nation's birth-day ! Sore had been the 
 travail that brought forth the child of promise ; and now, 
 as the auspicious event cheered their hearts with hopes 
 that fell far short of the destined reality, they made 
 merry, and drank wassail to the young heir whose broad 
 acres should stretch from the frozen regions of the North 
 to the Tropic ; from their eastern boundary to shores 
 where the Orient becomes Occidental. 
 
 The badge was frequently worn on public occasions. 
 In many of the portraits of Stuart, where the sitter was 
 ; a member of the Society, it is yet to be seen, obtrusively 
 \ pendent from the button-hole. The honourable principle 
 was scrupulously observed : the only instance of degrada- 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 37 
 
 tion I have been able to discover, was tliat of a member 
 from Eliode Island, who was divested of his ribbon fjr 
 making a legal tender of the depreciated paper currency in 
 payment of a debt. 
 
 Thus years rolled on. But the hilarity of each succeed- 
 ing' meeting was a little dashed by sad and sadder reflec- 
 tions, as the toasts to the departed increased in number. 
 In some instances their places were supplied by their de- 
 scendants, but in many more no one was left to claim the 
 vacant honour. 
 
 Nothing worthy of special note appears on the records, 
 until an event transpired which sent a thrill of delight 
 through the wliole nation, and called for the particular 
 notice of the Society of the Cincinnati. In the summer 
 of 1824. General Lafayette revisited the shores of America. 
 And who could more appropriately greet him than such as 
 survived of his brothers in arms ? The Cincinnati of Xew 
 York selected his birth-dav for conQi\atulatin£r him at an 
 entertainment that surpassed all their previous festivals, 
 both in interest and magnificence. Who shall describe 
 the emotions of their illustrious guest as he was ushered 
 into the ai^eat saloon of the "Washinsrton Hall, on this 
 memorable occasion I Since the Avar of independence he 
 had been whirled in all the vortex of a terrible revolution 
 — at one time the idol, and at another the execration of 
 the mob. By a natural train of association, what con- 
 trasts must have crowded his mind I His suppers at 
 Madame Du Barri"s when a young mousqiietaire at the 
 profligate court of Louis XV.. and his slender rations at 
 Valley Forge. The grand fete of the CJiamp-de-^Iars. 
 
38 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 when he led the militia of France, and his crust in the 
 dungeons of Olmutz. He sat beneath a canopy of oak 
 and laurel ; and when the triumphal wreath fell from the 
 beak of the eagle suspended above his chair, his breast 
 must have throbbed with the recollection of his past 
 glories : when he was carried wounded from the field at 
 the Brandywine ; the battle of Monmouth ; when, at the 
 head of the American infantry, he stormed the redoubts 
 at Yorktown ; when, in the land of his birth, he stood 
 between royalty and the rage of furious men and still 
 more savage women, and, kissing the hand of the queen 
 upon the balcony at Versailles, saved, for a brief space, 
 the life of that unhappy princess. 
 
 On the removal of the cloth, and when the memory of 
 the departed had been drunk in solemn silence, what 
 shades must have passed before his mind's eye ! Peerless 
 and first, his early friend and almost father, "the Cinciri- 
 natus of the West," who died in the fulness of honours, 
 and in the quiet retirement of his farm. His younger 
 friend Hamilton, w^ho shared with him the fortunes of 
 war, but who had since met with an untimely death. 
 The tall figure of the Count d'Estaing — a victim of the 
 guillotine. Henry, who distinguished himself at Fort 
 Mifflin, and died a Field-Marshal of France. His kins- 
 man, the impetuous De Noailles, who w^as killed in a 
 naval engagement with the English. Du Plessis, who 
 was massacred at St. Domingo. The adventurous La 
 Perouse, whose fate was still a mystery. Custine, a 
 prose rit of the Reign of Terror. De la Roche, w^ho fell 
 at Austerlitz. AW members of the fraternitv ; and he 
 
THE CINCINNATI 
 
 39 
 
 alone left to receive the outpourings of a nation's grati- 
 tude ! His ears still rang with the vivas of the excited 
 crowd w^ho were besieging the Hall to catch but a glimpse 
 of their heroic benefactor; his breast heaved with the 
 ! proudest emotions — not the less that he bore upon it a 
 1 badge that linked him with patriots living and dead ; the 
 precious meed of his devoted generosity. "So should 
 desert in arms be crowned." 
 
 If this paper should be the means of correcting two 
 errors that have crept into both history and biography, it 
 will have served its purpose. One is, that Washington, at 
 any time, looked with disfavour upon the Cincinnati. The 
 other is, that the hereditary succession was ever abolished. 
 
 There was much in the character of Washington that, 
 in our age, would be looked upon as eminently aristocratical. 
 His dignified reserve — the graceful courtesy of his manners 
 — the neatness of his toilet — his excessive punctilio. 
 Im^^ortant communications were returned unopened where 
 his name appeared on the address shorn of its titles. He 
 sealed his letters with the crest and bearings of the Wash- 
 ingtons of Northamptonshire, from whom he traced his 
 descent. At times, he would unbend from his official 
 dignity to any of the elegant amenities of social life. When 
 the allied armies celebrated the birth of the Dauphin at 
 West Point, he led down twenty couples on the green in a . 
 country dance. 
 
 We must almost look to fiction, and there combine to 
 form the true ideal of the high-minded Virginia gentleman 
 of that day, of which he was the type. The courtly polish 
 
40 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 and noble carriage of Grandison grafted upon the stout and 
 stalwart principles, the simplicity of heart and plain exterior 
 of Sir Roger de Coverly, will suggest, in some striking 
 features, a parallel. It is a school that is passed away. 
 It was that period of our history, when an honourable 
 diplomacy abroad, and plain-dealing at home, gave more 
 lustre to the new Republic than even the triumph of her 
 arms. It was the age of Washington and Adams, of 
 Hamilton, of Jay, of Laurens, of Carroll, and Pinckney. 
 Ah ! let such of our deluded countrymen as reckon too 
 cheaply their precious birthright, still patiently listen, if 
 they will, to abuse in broken English, heaped upon the 
 traditional policy of the government as enjoined by the 
 " Father of his Country," from the lips of each scheming 
 adventurer, as he feigns some mythical figment of his own, 
 and calls it — ■ Washington ! 
 
 •, There was nothing in the tastes or habits of General 
 Washington, that could make him look with displeasure 
 upon an institution founded upon the three virtuous prin- 
 ciples of patriotism, honour, and charity. And when he 
 placed his name at the head of it, he expressed himself in 
 terms of unqualified approbation. 
 
 The first general meeting, after the disbandment of the 
 army, was held at the State House, Philadelphia, on the 
 4th of May, 1784. I give an extract from the minutes : 
 V " General Washington having moved that a resolution \ 
 of the Society, dated at the cantonment of the American 
 army, June 19th, 1783, requesting the Commander-in-Chief 
 to officiate as President-General until the next general 
 meeting of the Society, might be read, and the same being 
 
I 
 
 THE CINCINNATI. 41 
 
 read accordingly, he laid the original institution of the 
 Society on the table with the official letters which he had 
 written and received in consequence thereof, and retired. 
 General Knox, acting as Secretary-General by the same 
 appointment, also requested leave to retire. Whereupon, 
 the meeting went into a committee of the whole, and 
 General Small wood took the chair; and on motion it was 
 resolved, that the election of officers of the General Society 
 be for the present postponed. It w^as then unanimously 
 resolved, that General Washington be requested to preside 
 at this meeting until the whole business of the meeting be 
 duly completed. Messrs. Williams, Dayton, Eamsey, and 
 Turner, were appointed to wait on General Washington, 
 and to inform him of the request of this meeting. General 
 Washington accepted, and took the chair." 
 
 "Saturday, May 15th, 1784. Pursuant to the order of 
 the day, proceeded to ballot for officers of the General 
 Society to serve the ensuing term, when : — General Wash- 
 ington was unanimously chosen President, Major-General 
 Gates, Vice-President, and Major-General Knox, Secretary. 
 
 In a letter to General Knox, written the following 
 October, and dated at Rocky Hill, Washington says : — 
 
 " I am told subscriptions have been paid in by those 
 who wish to have orders. I propose taking seven, for 
 which the money is ready at any time. And it may not 
 be amiss in this place to inform you, that it has always 
 been my intention to present the Society with five hundred 
 dollars." 
 
 On the second Monday of May, 1787, was called together 
 at Philadelphia that convention to which we owe the 
 Constitution of the United States — a triumph of wisdom, 
 
42 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 and the boast of every true American. It was called with 
 direct reference in respect of time, to the previously 
 appointed meeting of the Cincinnati, to be held on the first 
 Monday of the same month, being the second general 
 meeting of the Society. This was done to give Washington 
 an opportunity of presiding over both sittings. 
 
 But he had already written a circular letter to the 
 several State Societies, declining a re-election to the Presi- 
 dency, giving solely as a reason, a wish to withdraw from 
 all active life^ and to devote himself exclusively to the 
 affairs of his farm. He wrote to Mr. Madison, saying, " I 
 declined the Presidency, and excused my attendance on 
 the ground, which is firm and just, of the necessity of 
 attending to my private concerns, and in conformity to my 
 determination of spending the remainder of my days in a 
 state of retirement." 
 
 His position was an extremely embarrassing one. The 
 distracted state of the nation called for some great move- 
 ment to unite the discordant elements. He was once acrain 
 
 o 
 
 at a perilous juncture summoned to the aid of his country. 
 But he had already given reasons for not attending the 
 Cincinnati, which would be doubly applicable to the Con- 
 vention. To use his own words, "it was a delicate, a 
 perplexing subject." The course of a political time-server 
 — the trimmer to all the varying gales of popular favour, 
 whose policy is his best honesty, was a plain one — to rid 
 his skirts of the annoying incumbrance, and to rise sublime 
 over every petty consideration of honour and delicacy. So 
 did not Washington. Divided between contending senti- 
 ments, he exhibited a degree of vacillation that was foreign 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 43 
 
 to bis character. He was appealed to by every influence 
 that could move the heart of a patriot, to be present at the 
 Convention. He refused — he accepted — he refused again 
 — and again he accepted. 
 
 On the 8th of March, he wrote to General Knox in these 
 words : I am indirectly and delicately pressed to attend 
 this Convention. Several reasons are opposed to it in my 
 mind. and. not the least, having declined attending the 
 general meeting of the Cincinnati which is to be held in 
 Phikidelphia at the same time, on account of the disrespect 
 it might seem to offer to that Society, were I to attend on 
 another occasion." 
 
 On the 2 8 til of the same month, he wrote to Governor 
 Randolph as follows : ^' If I am able, and should go to 
 Philadelphia. I would set off for that place the 1st or 2d 
 of May. that I might be there to account personally for 
 my conduct to the general meeting of the Cincinnati, 
 which is to convene the first Monda}' of that month. My 
 feelings would be much hurt if that body should, otherwise, 
 ascribe my attending the one and not the other to a disre- 
 spectful inattention to the Society — when the fact is. that 
 I shall ever retain the most lively and affectionate regard 
 for the members of it — on account of their attachment to 
 me, and uniform support upon many trying occasions — 
 as well as on account of their public virtues, patriotism, 
 and sufferina'S." 
 
 On the 27th of April he had again abandoned all 
 intention of going to Philadelphia, as appears by a letter 
 to the Secretary-General of the Society, and, perhaps, 
 language could not express a greater anxiety not to give 
 
44 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 offence. You shall have his own words. It is dated at 
 Mount Vernon : , , 
 
 " My Dear Sir, 
 
 "After every consideration my judgment was able to give 
 the subject, I had determined to yield to the wishes of 
 many of my friends, who seemed extremely anxious for my 
 attending the Convention which is proposed to be holden 
 in Philadelphia, the second Monday of May. And tho' so 
 much afflicted w^itli a rheumatic complaint, (of which I 
 have not been entirely free for six months,) as to be under 
 the necessity of carrying my arm in a sling for the last ten 
 days, I had fixed on Monday next for my departure, and 
 had made every necessary arrangement for the purpose, 
 when, (within this hour) I am summoned by an express, 
 who assures me not a moment is to be lost to see a mother 
 and onlij sister (who are supposed to be in the agonies of 
 death) expire ; and I am hastening to obey this melancholy 
 call, after having just bid an eternal farewell to a much 
 loved brother, who was the intimate companion of my 
 youth, and the most affectionate friend of my ripened age. 
 
 " This journey (of more than one hundred miles), in the 
 disordered state of my body, will, I am persuaded, unfit 
 me for the intended trip to Philadelphia, and assuredly 
 prevent me from offering that tribute of respect to my 
 compatriots in arms, which results from affection and 
 gratitude for their attachment to, and support of me, upon 
 so many trying occasions. 
 
 " For this purpose it was, as I had, tho' with a good deal 
 of reluctance, consented (from a conviction that our affairs 
 
THE CI X CI XX ATI. 
 
 45 
 
 were verging fast to ruin, to depart from the resolution I 
 had taken, of never more stepping out of the walks of 
 private life. ) to serve in this Convention, that I determined 
 to show my respect to the general meeting of the Society, 
 by coming to Philadelphia during its sitting. As the hatter 
 is prevented; and the highest probability is. the other will 
 not take place. I send such papers as have, from time to 
 time, come to my hands, and may require inspection, and 
 the consideration of the Cincinnati, to your care.'' 
 
 The whole of the preceding paragraph, as you will 
 observe, is somewhat involved. Interlineations and era- 
 sures, made both with the knife and the pen. clearly show 
 the perplexity of the writer. He concludes in these words : 
 
 1 make a tender of my affectionate regards to the 
 members who may constitute the General Meeting of the 
 Society, and with sentiments of the highest esteem. 
 I am. my dear Sir. 
 
 ••Your obdt. humble servant. 
 •• To Maj.-Gex. Kxox. Go. AVashixgtox." 
 
 Finally, on the loth of May. the da}' before the assem- 
 bling of the Con\'ention. General "Washington arrived in 
 Philadelphia. The Cincinnati was still in session. It 
 had adjourned from the State-House to Carpenter's Hall, 
 in order to give way to the larger and more important 
 body. Here he found himself once more surrounded by 
 his former companions of the field. Four years had 
 elapsed since he had pledged them an eternal remem- 
 brance, in that most touching and trying scene, his affee- 
 
46 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 tionate farewell. The old feeling revived. He shook 
 hands with General Knox. He exchanged friendly greet- 
 ings with Hamilton, Yarnum, Jackson, Humphreys, Car- 
 rington, Mifilin, and Boudinot. 
 
 " Will you be our next President ?" was put to him on 
 every side. 
 
 , ''1 will!" said Washington; and, on the 18th of the 
 same month, he was unanimously re-elected President- 
 General of the Society of the Cincinnati — a position that 
 he held until the day of his death. 
 
 In 1788 (five years after the formation of the Society) 
 he wrote to Mr. Barton in this wise — a letter which, if 
 written in our country at the present day, by any public 
 man, would be fatal to his prospects ; 
 
 " It is far from my design," he says, " to intimate an 
 opinion that heraldry, coat armour, etc., might not be 
 rendered conducive to public and private uses with us, or 
 that they can have any tendency unfriendly to the purest 
 spirit of republicanism. ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ 
 
 "While the minds of a certain portion of the commu- 
 nity (probably from turbulent or sinister views) are or 
 affect to be haunted with the very spectre of innovation ; 
 while they are indefatigably striving to make the credu- 
 lity of the less-informed part of the citizens subservient 
 to their schemes, in believing that the proposed General 
 Government is pregnant with the seeds of discrimination, 
 oligarchy, and despotism; while they are clamorously 
 endeavouring to propagate an idea that those whom they 
 wish invidiously to designate by the name of the ^well- 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 47 
 
 born/ are meditating to distinguish themselves from their 
 compatriots^ and to wrest the dearest privileges from the 
 bulk of the people^ [I think it impolitic to agitate any 
 subject that may tend to promote these feelings.] * ^' 
 " I make these observations Avith the greater freedom, 
 because I have once been a witness to what I conceived 
 to have been a most unreasonable prejudice against an 
 innocent institution — I mean the Society of the Cincinnati. 
 I was conscious that my own proceedings on the subject 
 were immaculate. I was also convinced that the mem- 
 bers, actuated by motives of sensibility, charity, and 
 jDatriotism, were doing a laudable thing in erecting that 
 memorial of their common services, sufferings, and friend- 
 ships." 
 
 Six months after the date of this letter, General Wash- 
 ington was unanimously elected first President of what 
 might then be called for the first time the United States. 
 
 On this occasion a committee was appointed, in the 
 name of the Society, to present a congratulatory address. 
 This is his reply : 
 
 "Although it is easier for you to conceive than for me 
 to explain the pleasing sensations which have been excited 
 in my breast by your congratulations on my appointment 
 to the head of this rising Republic, yet I must take the 
 liberty to thank you sincerely for the polite manner in 
 which you felicitate our countrymen, and testify your 
 regard to me, on this occasion. * ❖ ❖ 
 
 " The candour of your fellow-citizens acknowledges the 
 patriotism of your conduct in peace, as their gratitude has 
 
48 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 declared their obligations for your fortitude and perseve- 
 rance in war. A knowledge that they now do justice to 
 the purity of your intentions, ought to be your highest 
 consolation, as the fact is demonstrative of your greatest 
 glory. ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 "Whatever titles my military services may have given 
 me to the regard of my country, they are principally 
 conducted by the firm support of my brave and faithful 
 associates in the field. And if any consideration is to be 
 attributed to the successful exercise of my civil duties, it 
 proceeds in a great measure from the wisdom of the laws, 
 and the facility which the disposition of my fellow-citizens 
 has given to their administration. 
 
 " To the most affectionate wishes for your temporal hap- 
 piness, I add a fervent prayer for your eternal felicity. 
 
 "Go, Washington." 
 
 Even amidst the cares and responsibilities of an office 
 new to himself and the world at large, we find him at 
 times occupied with the concerns of the Cincinnati. I 
 will read you a curious letter communicated by Washing- 
 ton from the ci-devant Viscount de Noailles, then a mem- 
 ber of the National Assembly, and a violent Jacobin. It 
 will show the estimation in which the Society was held 
 in France, at the time of the Kevolution. The English, 
 as you will perceive, is his own. It is dated Paris, April 
 24th, 1790. 
 
 " Dear General : — I have, though remote, incessantly 
 borne you that share of admiration you have filled every 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 49 
 
 rrencliman's breast with wlio has marched under joiiv 
 colours. It is not only now with a spirit replete with 
 freedom that I durst address you, but partaking of all 
 the rights nature has reserved to mankind and America 
 has reaped the first benefits of. In the French Eevolu- 
 tion. which portends the greatest blessings^ almost all 
 those who have beheld the foundation of liberty in the 
 United Provinces, have brought from thence of American 
 spirit; and have disj)layed it with undaunted courage, as 
 they have had a hand in preparing the Eevolution, so are 
 they doomed in firmly supporting its establishment. Such 
 a brotherhood has been of the utmost help, and will be 
 our greatest prop. It is in your power to contribute to its 
 indissolubility by a deed both equitable and useful. The 
 national dignities are the only badges we set a value on, 
 and are willing to preserve. The Cross of St. Louis, the 
 sign of military service, is going to be conferred through- 
 out all the ranks of the army. Condescend in granting 
 the same favour on all the officers who have been under 
 your orders, and who have contributed as well as we to 
 the salvation of the commonwealth. Condescend to ob- 
 tain for them the right of bearing the Order of Cincin- 
 natus. We shall hold the dearer when we behold our 
 brethren dignified with it. Fill up their vow and our 
 own. It is in the name of the small army you had some 
 esteem for I durst petition the favour. It is granting us a 
 second reward, of having our fellow at arms honoured as 
 well as we with a benefaction that evinces that liberty has 
 been laboured for. Such a bounty were less pleasing, and 
 were perhaps impossible in experiencing its influence, if 
 4 
 
50 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 you were not so generous as to diffuse it over all those 
 who are entitled to it. 
 
 " The deliberation to be held on this request is that the 
 officers of the French army who were in America at the 
 time M. de Eochambeau left the continent to repair to the 
 Leeward Islands, as also those of the legion of Lauzun be 
 indulged with the leave of bearing the Order of Cincin- 
 natus, provided they give an unexceptionable testimony 
 of their service, and obtain a certificate of their corps, 
 revised and signed by General Eochambeau. 
 
 " Numbers of French officers have brought from the 
 American war but scars. They will receive an healing 
 remedy when they have an additional proof of their service. 
 
 I have the honour to be with respect, dear General, 
 your most humble and obedient servt. 
 
 "NoAiLLES — a member of the National Assembly." 
 
 At the death of General Washington, which clouded 
 the dawn of the 19th century, indications of grief were 
 exhibited throughout the land — I may say throughout 
 the civilized globe. But from no body of men did there 
 flow a more genuine feeling of heart-felt affliction, than 
 from his brothers of the Cincinnati. The returns of the 
 several State Societies at this time are black with obituary 
 notices — every honorary tribute of affection was paid to 
 the memory of their late President. He was succeeded 
 by Alexander Hamilton. After him came Charles Cotes- 
 worth Pinckney. r 
 
 Thus much for the relations that subsisted between 
 General Washington and the Society of the Cincinuati. 
 
T H E C I X C I X X A T 1 . 51 
 
 / The hereditary succession was never abandoned. A 
 recommendation to that effect was indeed made to the 
 several State Societies, at the first General Meeting: in 
 \ Philadelphia, in the words of the circular letter : ^' To 
 \ remove every cause of inquietude, to annihilate every 
 source of jealousy, and to designate explicitly the ground 
 on which they stood." But the proposition, unwillingly 
 urged, was accepted in deprecatory terms by some, and 
 by others it was totally rejected. Pennsylvania accepted; 
 but, in an address to the General Society, expressed the 
 opinion -'that the ground of the Society had been too 
 much narrowed, and that, without some further altera- 
 tions, the Society itself must necessarily in the course of a 
 few years, reach its final period." To overcome the diffi- 
 culty, in this State they resort to the formality of an elec- 
 tion. But the candidates are limited to the descendants 
 of the first members, accordiuir to the terms of the oridnal 
 institution. 
 
 The Xew York Society resolved •* that because the 
 alterations contained no certain provision for the continu- 
 anc-e of the Society beyond the lives of the present mem- 
 bers, it would be inexpedient to adopt them." The more 
 fully to express their views, a remonstrance was drawn 
 up. whence I will read you a passage, the eloquence of 
 which betrays the hand of Hamilton, whose name is at 
 the head of the committee appointed for that purpose : 
 
 To men whose views are not unfriendly to those prin- 
 ciples which form the basis of the Union, and the only sure 
 foundation of the tranquillity and happiness of this coun- 
 trv. it can never appear criminal, that a class of citizens 
 
52 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 who have had so conspicuous an agency in the American 
 Revohition as those who compose the Society of the Cin- 
 cinnati, should pledge themselves to each other, in a 
 voluntary association,, to support, by all the means con- 
 sistent with the laws, that noble Fabric of United Inde- 
 pendence, which at so much hazard, and with so many 
 sacrifices, they have contributed to erect ; a Fabric on the 
 solidity and duration of which the value of all they have 
 done must depend ! and America can never have cause to 
 condemn an Institution calculated to give energy and 
 extent to a sentiment favourable to the preservation of 
 that union, by which she established her liberties, and to 
 which she must owe her future peace, respectability, and 
 prosperity. Experience, we doubt not, will teach her, that 
 the members of the Cincinnati, always actuated by the 
 same virtuous and generous motives which have hitherto 
 directed their conduct, will pride themselves in being, 
 thro' every vicissitude of her future fate, the steady and 
 faithful supporters of her liberties, her laws, and her 
 government." 
 
 New Hampshire and New Jersey indulged in this plea- 
 sant piece of sophistry : 
 
 " If medals only can create an order of nobility, Con- 
 gress has already ennobled many of their own and even 
 foreign officers, in bestowing medals on them for brilliant 
 services. But perhaps it may be said the difference lies 
 in the descent ; if this proves anything, it proves that the 
 descent of a medal ennobles a descendant, which has no 
 such effect on his ancestor, and is an argument too feeble 
 to deserve a serious refutation." 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 53 
 
 At the Second General Meeting, it was resolved "that 
 the alterations could not take eflect until they had been 
 agreed to by all the State Societies." They never ^Yere 
 so agreed to^ and consequently the original Institution 
 remains in full force. Those Societies that accepted the 
 proposed alterations unconditionally, of course perished 
 with their own generation. 
 
 It remains for me to be briefly statistical. But six of 
 the original thirteen States now respond to the triennial 
 call of the Secretary-General. They are Massachusetts, 
 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and of 
 course South Carolina. 
 
 The 268 officers of the Pennsjdvania line who signed 
 the original institution, are now represented by about 60 
 of their descendants. Of the New York line, 230 signed 
 the original institution : they are represented by 73 of 
 their descendants. The Society of Massachusetts has 
 always been the largest, 333 having originally signed the 
 institution, now represented by upwards of 100 members. 
 These three States, assumed as a standard, will sufficiently 
 show the danger accruing to the perpetuity of the Society 
 from too strict an observance of the hereditary principle. 
 
 Th^ next General Meeting will be held in Charleston, 
 S. C; when that article of their constitution which ex- 
 presses "'an unalterable determination to promote and 
 cherish between the respective States that union so essen- 
 tial to their happiness," will be the prevailing sentiment. 
 The spirit of their fathers will be revived among men of 
 influence in the land, and the hospitalities extended on the 
 occasion will not be the least among the harmonizing 
 
54 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF 
 
 weights in that delicately-hung balance where so many 
 rival interests agitate the scales. 
 
 The pensioners are few in number. The funds of the 
 Pennsylvania Society carry cheerfulness to the hearths of 
 about twenty families. The other Societies probably dis- 
 burse in a similar proportion. The little annuities that are 
 paid over are not looked upon in the nature of alms, 
 but rather as the right of the participants. It is the 
 one month's pay of their ancestors, hardly earned and 
 grudgingly doled out to them, now returned with increase 
 after many days. 
 
 Of those generous hearts who had this tender regard for 
 their posterity, not one survives ! The last veteran is 
 gone ! and, so far as relates to the founders of an honour- 
 able fraternity, the living source of all traditional reminis- 
 cence is forever closed. On the 29th of November, 1854 
 (five weeks ago), died Major Robert Burnett, the last sur- 
 vivor of the original Cincinnati. He died at his residence, 
 near Newburgh, hard by the spot where, seventy years ago, 
 he entered into a conspiracy that was destined to cramp 
 the energies of the growing Republic, The scene where 
 accents of an eternal farewell were wrung from many a 
 warm and manly heart. He lived to see the place become 
 a mart of traffic, busy with the hum of life, and trade's 
 unfeeling train sweep by to dispossess it of every hallowed 
 association. He lived to see the Cincinnati the graceful ^ 
 embodiment, the sign and symbol, the outward exponent, ( 
 the seal and impress of the American Revolution — an 
 object of veneration to a few; to the many scarce the 
 shadow of a name ! Such are the mutations of time ! 
 
 / 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 55 
 
 When General St. Clair and Colonel Sargent gave the 
 name of their favourite Society to the three block-houses 
 that formed a settlement then called Losanteville, at the 
 confluence of the Licking and the Ohio, they little thought 
 they were enthroning a "Queen of the West/' and erect- 
 ing a monument which will probably outlive all recollec- 
 tion of the object it commemorates. And even now. per- 
 hapSj not one in a thousand of the active and enterprising 
 citizens of that thrifty "locality," as he brands his barrels 
 of " prime middlings," or stencils the covers of his " sugar- 
 cured hams/' or pastes the label upon bottles of "sparkling 
 Catawba/' dreams for a moment that he is spreading over 
 this and other lands the name of an association that, at 
 one time, in the apprehension of many sensible people, 
 threatened the liberties of his country. 
 
JOURNAL 
 
 01" 
 
 THE GETsERAL iIEETI?s^G 
 THE CINCINNATI 
 
 IX 17 84. 
 
 BY MAJOR WIXTHROP SARGEXT, 
 
 A DELEGATE mOil 3IASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 (57) 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 The original MS. of the following Journal was 
 found by the editor among the papers of the late 
 Governor Sargent ; and at the suggestion of some 
 friends who considered its historical interest, when 
 taken in connection with the little that seems to be 
 generally known respecting the Society to which it 
 refers, as of sufficient importance to warrant such 
 a step, it has been prepared for the press. 
 
 The w^riter w^as born at Gloucester, Massachusetts, 
 May 1st, 1753; graduated with distinction at Har- 
 vard college ; and enlisted in the American army, 
 then besieging Boston, on the 7th of July, 1775. 
 He declined a company in several of the marching 
 regiments ; and on March 16th, 1776, was appointed 
 eighth Captain-Lieutenant of Knox's regiment of 
 artillery, as appears by the muster-roll in the Knox 
 MSS. In this line he served through the Ee volu- 
 tion ary war ''with great reputation," according to 
 Washington, who had ''a high opinion of his 
 worth;" and gradually rose to a Majority. The 
 principal actions in which he bore a part, were the 
 
 (59) 
 
60 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 siege of Boston ; the battle of Long Island, and the 
 operations that attended the retreat from New York ; 
 the affairs at White Plains, Trenton, and Prince- 
 ton ; that of Brandywine, Germantown, and Barren 
 Hill; of Valley Forge, and Monmouth, &c. In 
 1785, General Washington wrote of him, "that he 
 entered into the service of his country at an early 
 period of the war, and during the continuance of 
 it, displayed a zeal, integrity, and intelligence, which 
 did honour to him as an officer and a gentleman." 
 For many years after the war, he filled various 
 offices of dignity, both civil and military. In 1791, 
 Colonel Sargent was Adjutant-General at St. Clair's 
 defeat, where he was severely wounded. Two bullets 
 that he received on that day were never extracted, 
 and were carried in his body through the rest of his 
 life. He was afterwards Governor of the Mississippi 
 Territory, where he died in 1820. 
 
 In the affairs of the Society of the Cincinnati, 
 Major Sargent had taken, in common with hundreds 
 of other officers, a great interest. The decoration 
 of the Order appears in Stuart's portrait of him, 
 as it does in those of most members who sat to 
 that artist. From his intimacy with Knox, Putnam, 
 Howe, Shaw, and others among the framers of the 
 Institution, it is probable that he possessed a full 
 knowledge of all that it was designed to accomplish ; 
 but if this was anything more than what is ex- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 61 
 
 pressed on the face of that instrument, he has left 
 us no indication of it. It is not intended here to 
 go over the history of the formation of the Cincin- 
 nati, and the chimours that were raised against it. 
 Mr. Alexander Johnston, in his paper before the 
 Historical Society of Pennsylvania, has referred to 
 all this in a manner that leaves nothing to be said 
 in this place on the subjects he has treated of. But, 
 having at various times given some attention to 
 the matter, the editor begs leave to suggest one or 
 two points that have occurred to him. 
 
 In an article in the North American Eeview for 
 October, 1853, the present writer, following Marshall 
 and Sparks, expressed the belief, that the idea of 
 the Society was first suggested by Knox; and that 
 the Baron de Steuben probably had at least been 
 consulted in the inception of the scheme. He has 
 since been favoured with the perusal of the original 
 rough draft of the Society, in the handwriting of 
 Knox, and dated at West Point, April 15th, 1783, 
 being considerably antecedent to the meeting of the 
 officers, May 10th, 1783 ; which gives us the earliest 
 intimation we have of the formation of the Cincin- 
 nati. This paper, with several others from the 
 same source, as yet unknown to the press, the 
 editor hopes ere long to receive permission to make 
 use of; in which event, they will appear in an 
 apj)endix to this tract. And though there is no 
 
62 
 
 PREFACE . 
 
 evidence of the fact, beyond the assertions of its 
 enemies, he supposes it not improbable, that one 
 benefit proposed to be attained by the officers in 
 thus banding themselves together, may have been 
 an increased capacity to resist the threatened 
 oppression of that Government they had themselves 
 created ; and to enforce more successfully an audi- 
 ence of their claims for payment of their lawfully 
 earned dues. So far as this goes, and even this is 
 purely conjectural, the combination may perhaps 
 have been political. But, as for the creation and 
 hereditary transmission of a distinctive badge of 
 their Order, it amounted in reality to nothing more 
 than the expression of that desire for glory which 
 is the breath of a soldier's nostrils. In all ages, 
 such personal distinctions have been the tempta- 
 tion to lure men into perils, for which mere gold 
 could yield no compensation. 
 
 For gold the merchant ploughs the main, 
 
 The farmer ploughs the manor; 
 But glory is the soldier's prize, ■ • 
 
 The soldier's wealth is honour. 
 
 A statue in the Comitium, or a mural crown, 
 would lead the Roman veteran through flood and 
 flame; the crusader's cross-legged effigy, even in 
 death, preserved the memories of Acre and ''the 
 listed field at Askalon;" and a ribbon of the 
 Legion of Honour atoned to tlie followers of N'apo- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 63 
 
 leon for tlie poisoned heats of Egy^Dt, and all the 
 frozen horrors of the Xorth. It is not then strana^e 
 that, seeing their enemies daily rewarded with like 
 trophies by the King of England, and listening to 
 the nightly aspirations of their allies for the cross 
 of St. Louis, the appropriate reward of French 
 prowess, the American soldier should have sighed 
 in his turn for some like distinction. That it was 
 a claim to public consideration to have served with 
 honour in the ranks of the Eevolution, is evident 
 from the warmth with which the Order itself was 
 inveighed against and defended : and that it should 
 have been made hereditary might have been 
 excused by the plea that there was little likelihood 
 of most of the members being ever able to leave 
 much else to their children. But it seems more 
 than probable, that the first defined suggestion of 
 the assumption of a distinctive Order, came from 
 Steuben, or some other foreigner. This idea is 
 hinted at in a sharp letter from Lafayette to John 
 Adams, of 8th of March, 178L (Life and Works 
 of Adams, viii., p. 187.) Remarking on certain 
 animadversions upon the Society attributed to Mr. 
 Adams, in which it was styled a French Uessing, 
 Lafayette says, the French court had not, so far 
 as he knew, even dreamed of the Society, before 
 Coimt de Eochambeau was written to by General 
 Washinalon. But the constant association of 
 
64 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 French officers, bearing the Order of St. Louis, with 
 the Americans, must have occasioned many sugges- 
 tions for the creation of another military Order; 
 and it is not incredible, that the "considerable 
 resemblance,'' noted by Macaulay, between a rule 
 of the Order of St. Louis and that ordained by the 
 Censors for the Roman knights in the age of Cin- 
 cinnatus, occurring to some well-read chevalier des 
 orclres du Roy, of Rochambeau's camp, may have 
 given a spur to the comparison which fixed the 
 name of the Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 However this be, it is to Knox that the first 
 development of the scheme is to be ascribed : " ever 
 noted for generous impulses,'' says Mr. Irving, he 
 ''suggested, as a mode of perpetuating the friend- 
 ships thus formed, and keeping alive the brother- 
 hood of the camp, the formation of a society com- 
 posed of the officers of the army. The suggestion 
 met with universal concurrence, and the hearty 
 approbation of Washington." Eochambeau, indeed, 
 attributes a greater share in its creation than mere 
 approval to the illustrious Chief. After stating that 
 the army, threatened with being turned adrift 
 unpaid and penniless, was ripe for revolt, he con- 
 tinues: "Le general Washington, conservant ce 
 caractere noble et patriotique qui a toujours fait 
 la base de sa conduite, ramena les esj)rits au 
 sentimens de generosite qui les avoient animds dans 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 65 
 
 le coiirs de la revolution. II fit proposer Tinstitii- 
 tioii de la societe de Cincinnatus, pour perpetuer la 
 memoire de 1" alliance de la France, comme un lien 
 ^ternel de leur confraternite mutuelle, et la marque 
 honorable de leurs services.'' (Memoires, i., p. 321). 
 But this language is too general to testify to more 
 than the Count's opinion as to the cause of its 
 creation : the question of its paternity must remain 
 as given by Irving. 
 
 On May 10th. 1783. a meeting of the officers was 
 held at the cantonment on Hudson's river, and 
 certain proposals for the Society considered. These 
 proposals were probably those contained in Knox's 
 rough draft of April loth, already alluded to. They 
 were amended, and referred for revision to a com- 
 mittee, of whom one was Captain Shaw, General 
 Knox's aide ; and the form of institution, as reported 
 by them on the 13th of May, being agreed to, it has 
 continued ever since in force. Mr. Quincy, in his 
 Life of Shaw, who was secretary of the committee, 
 reports on the authority of Colonel Pickering, the 
 fact, that the original draft of the constitution of 
 the Society was from Shaw's pen. This probably 
 refers to the Institution as adopted : with the par- 
 ticulars of which the reader may readily acquaint 
 himself, by recourse to the official publications of 
 the Society. Under its regulations, the first general 
 5 
 
66 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 meeting was not to be lield until May, 1784: and 
 a meeting of persons properly authorized was there- 
 fore held on June 19th, 1783, to choose temporary 
 officers. An ominous foreboding of ill might have 
 been gathered from the place of assembly — the 
 new building at the cantonments having been struck 
 by lightning a few nights before during a violent 
 storm, and its flagstaff shivered. Certainly a storm 
 of another kind was already brewing against the 
 Cincinnati. Even among the officers themselves, it 
 had opponents, w^ho refused to join its ranks on 
 account of its anti-democratic character. General 
 Heath tells us that he hung back for some time, 
 and only came in, lest it should be said to his 
 posterity, that their ancestor was guilty of some 
 misconduct which deprived him of his badge. But 
 the prevailing wishes of the officers were in its 
 favour. 
 
 Far different was the feeling in other quarters. 
 The opinion of Mr. Adams, that the formation of 
 the Society was "the first step taken to deface the 
 beauty of our temple of liberty,'^ found a wider 
 concurrence than most of that gentleman's senti- 
 ments w^ere fated to encounter. As the year rolled 
 on, the public uneasiness was increased by the 
 appeals of the press : and the general meeting of 
 May, 1784, was looked to with an interest second 
 only, if at all, to that inspired by the coming 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 67 
 
 together of the Congress. Mr. Irving thus relates 
 the occurrence in his Life of Washington. (IV. 
 p. 454.) 
 
 "The time was now approaching when the first 
 general meeting of the Order of Cincinnati was to 
 be held, and Washington saw with deej) concern a 
 popular jealousy awakened concerning it. Judge 
 Burke, of South Carolina, had denounced it in a 
 pamphlet as an attempt to elevate the military 
 above the civil classes, and to institute an order of 
 nobility. The Legislature of Massachusetts sounded 
 an alarm that was echoed in Connecticut, and pro- 
 longed from State to State. The whole Union ivas 
 put on its guard against this effort to form an heredi- 
 tary aristocracy out of the military chiefs and 
 powerful families of the several States. 
 
 " Washington endeavoured to allay this jealousy. 
 In his letters to the President of the State Societies, 
 notifpng the meeting which was to be held in 
 Philadelphia on the 1st of May, he expressed his 
 earnest solicitude that it should be respectable for 
 numbers and abilities, and wise and deliberate in 
 its proceedings, so as to convince the public that 
 the objects of the Institution were patriotic and 
 praiseworthy. 
 
 "The Society met at the appointed time and 
 place. Washington presided, and by his sagacious 
 counsels effected modifications of its constitution. 
 
68. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The hereditary principle, and the power of electing 
 honorary members, were abolished, and it was 
 reduced to the harmless, but highly respectable 
 footing on which it still exists. 
 
 In notifying the French military and naval offi- 
 cers included in the Society, of the changes which 
 had taken place in its constitution, he expressed 
 his ardent hopes that it would render permanent 
 those friendships and connections which had happily 
 taken root between the officers of the two nations. 
 All clamours against the Order now ceased. It 
 became a rallying place for old comrades in arms, 
 and Washington continued to preside over it until 
 his death.'' 
 
 In this statement, Mr. Irving only follows Mar- 
 shall, Sparks, Guizot, Hildreth, C. F. Adams, and 
 other writers; and not unnaturally falls into the 
 same conclusions. The general meeting of 1784 
 undoubtedly did attempt to modify the Institution ; 
 but it could do no more than recommend the 
 acceptance of these alterations to the several State 
 Societies. The assent of all the States was neces- 
 sary before they could take effect, and that assent 
 was never given : wherefore the Society stands now 
 on the same footing that it did on its organization. 
 
 The meeting of 1784 was undoubtedly looked to 
 with a great interest; and the fact that the essential 
 parts of the Journal which follows were written in 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 69 
 
 cypher, shows very clearly that the men who sate 
 in that council were not willing the public should 
 penetrate their secrets. A few years later, the 
 guillotine was the penalty inflicted by the sister 
 republic for the crime of membership. No such 
 state of things could have been contemplated in 
 1784 : but there was undoubtedly a general jealousy 
 of the Society. What transpired in its meeting 
 may probably be recorded in its archives : but in no 
 other place is there reason to suppose any account 
 exists of the proceedings on that occasion, save in 
 this Journal. The reader will perceive that it is 
 written freely, and without the formal precision of 
 a clerk : perhaps it is none the less interesting on 
 that score. The spelling of some of the French 
 names may also be noticed as an example of the 
 lack of colloquial familiarity between the two nations 
 at that day. The Count de Eochambeau himself 
 affords a case of compensation ; in whose Memoirs 
 of our war one is sometimes puzzled to recognize 
 in Heats, Trumboldt, Vaine, Ohera, and Cabb, the 
 men we name Heath, Trumbull, Wayne, O'Hara, 
 and the Baron de Kalb. 
 
 The meeting of the Society was called for Monday, 
 May 1st, 1784. Probably, nothing was done on 
 that day, as the Journal commences on Tuesday, 
 May 2nd. It terminates abruptly on May 18th; 
 
70 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 about which time therefore, it is hkely that the 
 meeting finally adjourned. It is understood that 
 the Society of the Cincinnati has in contemplation 
 the preparation, from its own archives, of a history 
 that will doubtless be clear and full on many points 
 wherein this editor is necessarily uninformed. Such 
 a work cannot but be a most acceptable contribution 
 to our historical literature. In the mean time, it is 
 hoped that the notes, imperfect as many of them 
 are, appended to this publication, may not be criti- 
 cised with too severe eyes ; and that the history of 
 the meeting of 1784, now for the first time made 
 generally known, may possess some interest for the 
 inquirer into that period of the history of America 
 and of Washington. The position assumed by the 
 Chief on this occasion has often been declared by 
 his biographers ; but the concurrent testimony of 
 one of his most devoted followers, given with that 
 simplicity and frankness, characteristic of a soldier^s 
 private diary, places his willingness to yield to the 
 tide of popular opinion, in a very strong light. For 
 the well-being of the Cincinnati, as well as for other 
 causes, the editor is not dissatisfied that those efforts 
 should have failed of entire success. 
 
 WiNTHROP Sargent. 
 
 Philadelphia, Aug. 15, 1857. 
 
3nurniil iif tjie Ciiirinmiti. 
 
 1784. 
 
 Tuesday, the 4th of May, 17S4. Assembled at the City 
 Tavern/ and, after choosmg a Committee of Three, to 
 examine the credentials of gentlemen who should present 
 themselves as delegates to the General Meeting, adjourned 
 till 9 o'clock to-morro\v morning. 
 
 [May oth, 1784.] Convened at nine: received the 
 report of the Committee, as follows : 
 
 Properly elected for 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE: 
 Hexry Dearborx;^ 
 
 ^ The City Tavern, in Second, near tlie corner of Walnut street, was then 
 one of the chief public-houses of Philadelphia. 
 
 2 Col. Henry Dearborn (h. 1751; d. 1829) was Secretary at War from 
 1801 to 1800 J and, during the war of 1812, commander-in-chief of the 
 army. 
 
 (71) 
 
72 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS: 
 Henry Knox;^ 
 David Cobb;^ 
 KuFus Putnam;^ 
 William Hull;^ 
 Winthrop Sargent; 
 
 ' Of the Massachusetts Society, Knox thus writes to Washington, from 
 Boston, Feb. 21, 1784: "The Cincinnati appears, however groundlessly, 
 to be an object of jealousy. The idea is that it has been created by a 
 foreign influence, in order to change our forms of government. * * * * 
 The cool, dispassionately sensible men seem to approve of the institution 
 generally, but dislike the hereditary descent. The two branches of the 
 Legislature of this State, namely, the Assembly and Senate, have chosen 
 a committee ' to inquire into any associations or combinations to introduce 
 undue distinctions into the community, and which may have a tendency 
 to create a race of hereditary nobility, contrary to the confederation of the 
 United States, and the spirit of the Constitution of this Commonwealth.' 
 They have not yet reported, and perhaps will not. The same sentiments 
 pervade New England. The Society here have had a respectable meeting 
 at Boston, on the 10th inst., at which Gen. Lincoln presided. Gren. Heath 
 was not present. A Committee was chosen to attend the General Meeting 
 at Philadelphia, next May — Gen. R. Putnam, Col. Cobb, Lieut.-Col. Hull, 
 Major Sargent, and myself. Probably only two will attend. It was thought 
 prudent not to make any honorary members at present. The officers and 
 soldiers conduct themselves in an exemplary manner, and are generally as 
 industrious as any part of the community.'' (Corr. of Rev. ed. Sparks; 
 iv. 58.) 
 
 2 Major-General Knox, the friend of Washington (h. 1750; d, 1806). 
 From 1783 to 1800, he was Secretary of the General Society, and in 1805 
 was elected its Vice-President. His biography is now being written by 
 Mr. Willard, of Boston. 
 
 ^ Lieut.-Col. Cobb was in 1809 Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, 
 and died in 1828. 
 
 ^ Brig.-Gen. Rufus Putnam (b. 1738 ; d. 1824) was one of the founders 
 of the State of Ohio, where he filled many important offices. (See Burnet's 
 Northwestern Territory, p. 43.) 
 
 ^ Lieut.-Col. Hull, whose unfortunate part in the war of 1812 is well 
 known The connection of Dearborn and Bloomfield, two of his brother 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 73 
 
 RHODE ISLAND: 
 Nath'l Greexe ; ^ 
 James Yerxom ; ^ 
 Jeremiah Olxey;^ 
 Daxiel Ltmax; 
 Samuel Ward ; 
 
 ' ^ CONNECTICUT: 
 
 Samuel H. Parsoxs;^ 
 Jededlih Huxtixgtox;^ . . ^ 
 Hemax Swift ; 
 
 members; with the court-martial that sentenced him to be ^^shot to death/' 
 is curious. In Clarke's Hull, this General Electing is mentioned, but no 
 particulars are given of the "interesting business which had called them 
 together/' 
 
 ^ Two years later this good man and skilful soldier died in Georgia, 
 where, invited by an exhibition of popular affection and gratitude not less 
 laudable than rare, he had selected his abode. 
 
 ^ Probably Major-General James 3Iitchell Yarniim, one of the first set- 
 tlers of Ohio, who died in 1789. 
 
 ^ Colonel Olney had served with distinction through the war, in the line 
 of Rhode Island. After its close, he was the President of the Cincinnati 
 of that State, and Collector of the Customs at Providence, for many years, 
 in times when Federal offices were the rewards of merit. He died Xov. 
 10, 1812, in his 63d year, leaving a reputation for worth as unblemished 
 as unusual. (See also Eogers's Am. Biog., and Coll. R. I. Hist. Soc, 
 vol. V.) 
 
 ^ Major-General Samuel Holden Parsons: born May 14, 1737; died at 
 Big Beaver Creek, in the Xorthwestern Territory, X^ov. 17, 1789. A 
 contemporaneous MS. says: "He was drowned in attempting to come 
 down that river (and perhaps near the Falls) in a canoe, with one man. 
 His family have suffered a severe loss, for tho' in years, and thereby im- 
 paired in his capacities, he still retained the ability to have rendered them 
 important services. 
 
 Brig.-Gen. Jedediah Huntington : h. May 15, 1743 \ d. Sept. 25, 
 1818. ^ 
 
74 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 Dayid Humphreys;^ 
 Jonathan Trumbull;^ 
 
 NEW YORK:^ 
 Philip Cortland;'' 
 Wm. S. Smith ;^ 
 
 * Col. David Humphreys, as well known by his civil, military, and 
 diplomatic services, as by his ready pen, was bom in 1752, and died in 
 1818. 
 
 ^ Mr. Trumbull was, in 1775, appointed by Congress paymaster in the 
 Northern Department, and, soon after, secretary and aid to General Wash- 
 ington.'^ Entering into the civil service of the State, he was, in 1791, 
 chosen Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives ; in 1794 he was 
 elected to the Senate; and, in 1798, chosen Grovernor of Connecticut, to 
 which post he was annually re-elected until his death, in 1809. (Alden's 
 N. E. Biog., p. 397; Barber's Hist. Coll. Conn., p. 322.) 
 
 ^ Bespecting this delegation, I find the following passage on page 24 of 
 ^'The Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati," etc. Published by 
 order and for the use of the members in the State of New York (New 
 York : printed by Samuel Loudon, 1784), among the proceedings of the 
 New York Society, on Feb. 9, 1784: "On motion, Resolved, That the 
 Society proceed immediately to the choice of three Deputies, to represent 
 them at the meeting of the Greneral Society, any two of whom shall be a 
 representation. The ballots being then taken, Brigadier-General CorU 
 landty Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, and Lieutenant-Colonel Fisli, were 
 elected." 
 
 ^ Brig.-Gen. Philip Van Cortlandt died at his seat in Westchester county, 
 New York, Nov. 5, 1831, in his 82d year. He served with credit from 
 the beginning to the end of the Revolutionary War, and, among many 
 other battles, had the fortune to share in the glories of Saratoga and York- 
 town. After the war, he represented his district in Congress for nearly 
 twenty years; and to his death ''possessed the esteem and confidence of 
 his fellow-citizens." I find this gentleman's name generally spelt at the 
 time, by strangers, as in the text. From 1783 to 1788 he was Treasurer 
 of the Cincinnati of New York. 
 
 ^ Lieut.-Col. Wm. S. Smith was Secretary of the New York Society from 
 1790 to 1793, and again in 1803; in 1794 he was chosen its Vice-Presi- 
 dent, and in 1804 its President. He died June 10, 1816. 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 Nicholas Fish;^ 
 James Fairlie;^ 
 
 NEW JERSEY: 
 
 Elias Daytox;^ 
 David Brearly;^ 
 Joxathax Daytox ; ^ 
 Aarox Ogdex-^ 
 
 PENXSYLYAXIA: 
 
 JOHX DiCKIXSOX;' 
 
 ^ Lieut. -Col. Xicholas Fish, of the 2d N. Y. Regiment, was the first 
 Assistant Treasurer of the X"ew York Society ; in 1795 its Vice-Presi- 
 dent; and in 1797 its President. He died in Xew York, June 20, 1833, 
 aged 75 years. His son, Gov. Hamilton Fish, is the existing President- 
 General of the Society. 
 
 ^ 3Iajor James Fairlie, ^^of facetious memory/' was a lieutenant in 
 the 2d X. Y. Regiment, and A. D. C. to the Baron de Steuben. He 
 served with distinction in the war, and is mentioned in Heath's Memoirs, 
 p. 230. He was Secretary of the New York Society in 1784, and Assis- 
 tant Treasurer in 1805. Mr. Irving (Washington, iv. 475) records that 
 Washington, while on a water party, was so overcome by the drollery of 
 one of Major Fairlie's stories, '-that he fell back in the boat in a paroxysm 
 of laughter." Fairlie died Oct. 11, 1830. 
 
 ^ Brig. -Gen. Elias Dayton, of the Xew Jersey line ; died in 1807, aged 
 70 years. 
 
 ^ Lieut. -Col. David Brearly was a member of the State and Federal 
 Conventions, and for nine years Chief-Justice of Xew Jersey. He died 
 Aug. 16, 1790, in his 45th year. (Barber and Howe; Hist. Coll. N. J., 
 p. 303.) 
 
 ° Jonathan Dayton, afterwards speaker of the House, in Congress, and 
 godfather of Dayton, Ohio. 
 
 ^ Captain Ogden was afterwards a Senator in Congress; in 1813 was 
 made a major-general, but declined the office; Vice-President-General 
 in 1825; and President-General from 1822 to his death, in 1839. 
 
 ' John Dickinson, Governor of Pennsylvania, and the fourth hono- 
 
76 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 Stephen Moylan;^ 
 Thomas Eobinson;^ ^ 
 Thomas B. Bowen;^ 
 Abraham G. Claypole ; 
 
 DELAWAKE: 
 
 James Tilton;^ 
 James Moore ;^ 
 
 MARYLAND: 
 
 William Smallwood;^ 
 Otho H. Williams ; ^ 
 Nath'l Ramsay; 
 
 Wm. PacA;^ 
 
 rary member of the Cincinnati of that State : h. 1732 3 d. 1808. For 
 a sketch of his character, see Flanders's Chief- Justices of the United 
 States, i. 137. 
 
 ' Brig.-G-en. Moylan, a native of Ireland, was colonel of the 4th Light 
 Dragoons : in 1800 Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Society. 
 
 ^ Lieut.-Col. Robinson, of the 2d Penna. Regt., a native of Ireland. 
 
 ^ Captain Thomas Bartholomew Bowen, of the 1st Penna. Regt., was 
 at one time a member of the South Carolina Society. 
 Captain Claypoole, of the 3d Penna. Regt. 
 
 ^ Dr. James Tilton was born in 1745 ; was physician and Surgeon- 
 General of the army in the war of 1812 ; and died in Delaware in 1822. 
 
 ^ Major Moore was in 1800 Assistant Treasurer of the Pennsylvania 
 Society. 
 
 ^ Major-G-eneral Smallwood, Governor of Maryland in 1785, and Presi- 
 dent of the State Cincinnati ; d. 1792. Several letters concerning the 
 meeting of 1784 are given in the Maryland Papers of the Seventy-six 
 Society. 
 
 «Brig.-Gen. Williams: h. 1748; d. 1794. 
 
 ^ Gov. Paca was a signer of the Declaration, and Governor and Chief- 
 Justice of Maryland : h, 1740; d. 1799. 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 VIRGINIA: 
 
 George Wheedon;' 
 WyL. IIeth; 
 Henry Lee;^ 
 James Wood;^ 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA: 
 
 Reading Blount;^ 
 Archibald Ltghtle;^ 
 Griffith J. M'Kee ; ^ 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA: 
 Wm. Washington;^ 
 
 ' Brig. -Gen. Weedon, before the war, was an innkeeper at Fredericks- 
 burg, Virginia. 
 
 ^ Afterwards Governor Lee, originator of the phrase which names "Wash- 
 ington as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his country- 
 men.'' Born, 1756 ; died in 1818, of wounds received from a mob of 
 political opponents at Baltimore, in 1812. (Howe's Hist. Coll. Va., 511.) 
 
 ^ Col. Wood was afterwards Governor of Virginia; in whose honor is 
 named W^ood county; died 1813. 
 
 " Heading Blount was captain in the North Carolina line in 1776. 
 (Wheeler's N. C, i. 80.) 
 
 ^ Wheeler says Archibald Lytle was a captain of the N. C. line in 
 1776. 
 
 ^ Grifl&th John M'Kee; h. in North Carolina in 1753; major and bvt. 
 It.-col. in revolutionary army ; capt. artillerist and engineers, June 2, 
 1794; resigned April 24, 1798. Collector of Wilmington, N. C, April, 
 1798. Died Oct. 3, 1801. (Gardner's Army Diet.; Wheeler's N. C) 
 
 ' Lieut. -Col. Wm. A. W^ashington, of the South Carolina line. From 
 1798 to 1800 he held a brigadier's commission in the Federal army; died 
 1810. 
 
78 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 Walton White 
 Lewis Morris;^ 
 George Turner ;3 
 
 GEORGIA: 
 
 John S. Eustace ; ^ 
 Alex'r D. Cuthbert; 
 John Lucas; 
 James Feilds. 
 
 General Washington, President-General/ and General 
 Knox, Treasurer, begged leave to resign tlieir offices. 
 The President was then requested to resume his seat, as 
 a temporary appointment, for the whole business of this 
 General Meeting; and Major Turner was desired to 
 attend to the duty of scribe: — After which, we resolved 
 ourselves into a committee of the whole, Col. Eamsay in 
 
 ^ Col. Anthony Walton White, of the 1st Light Dragoons, seems to have 
 been originally a member of the South Carolina Society, and afterwards of 
 that of New York. G-ardner (Army Diet.) says he was of Virginia, and 
 brigadier from 1798 to 1800. He died Feb. 10, 1803. 
 
 ^ Lieut. -Col. Lewis Morris was an original member of the Society of 
 South Carolina, to which State he had probably removed from New York. 
 
 ^ Major Turner was a captain in the South Carolina line. In 1787 he 
 was Assistant Secretary of the General Society; and in after years, I 
 think, a Federal judge in the Northwestern Territory. 
 
 Major John Skey Eustace, who had settled in Georgia at the close of 
 the war. In 1794 he went abroad, and rose to be a major-general in the 
 French service; commanding a division in Flanders in 1794. He returned 
 to New York in 1800, and died at Newburgh in 1805. 
 
 ^ From the foundation of this Order to the end of his life, Washington 
 continued its head. He had arrived in Philadelphia from Mount Vernon, 
 to attend this meeting, on Saturday, May 1, 1784. 
 
THE CI X CI XX ATI. 
 
 79 
 
 the cliair. and the Institution was read. aQTeeably to the 
 general resolution. 
 
 The President then arose ; — express'd the opposition of 
 the State of Virginia and other States; — observ'd that it 
 had become violent and formidable, and called for serious 
 consideration ; — desired of the members of the several 
 States to declare the ideas which prevailed in their coun- 
 tries with regard to our Institution, and the various man- 
 ners which they had pursued to obtain this knowledge.^ 
 
 Connecticut, by Colonel Humphreys; — a very general 
 disapprobation of the People. 
 
 Massachusetts, by General Knox ; — expressed simiilar 
 sentiments — with this difference, that some verv sincerely 
 wish its existence, but with alterations material.'^ 
 
 ^ On the 8th April, 1784, TTashington had written to Jefferson, '-in- 
 quiring into the real state of public opinion, as well as the sentiments of 
 Congress,^' on the subject of the Cincinnati. Jefferson replied at great 
 length, decidedly opposing the Society as then constituted, and reciting 
 with much force the usual objections against it. He gives his impression 
 that the Congress was unfavourable to it^ and that although they might not 
 express their sentiments unless forced to do so, they would probably '-'check 
 it by side blows whenever it came in their way ; and in competitions for 
 office, on equal, or nearly equal grounds, would give silent preferences to 
 those who are not of the fraternity." He concludes with the opinion that 
 if it was intended to continue the Society, it would be better to make no 
 application to Congress; and that no modification of it would be unobjec- 
 tionable, except that which would "amount to annihilation;'^ for such 
 would be the effect of parting with its inheritability, its organization, and its 
 assemblies. (Tucker's Jefferson ; i. 169.) The Cincinnati of Virginia, as a 
 separate organization, no longer exists. Its last meeting was in IS'22, when 
 its funds, amounting to $15,000, were transferred to Washington College. 
 
 ^ At the celebration of the 4th of July, 1784, by a. public dinner, in 
 Boston, it was thus toasted from the balcony : May the Members of the 
 honourable Society of Cincinnati ever retain that honour in present esta- 
 blishment, which their bravery and virtues had acquired in their 3Iilitary.'\ 
 (Ereeman's Journal, Xo. ISO.) 
 
80 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 New York, by Colonel Smith ; — declared no opposition. 
 
 Delaware, by Mr. Til ton; — informed that the principal 
 and indeed only enemies of the Cincinnati were among the 
 class of people denominated Tories. 
 
 Colonel White, from South Carolina; — gave it as his 
 opinion, that almost all the various classes in the State 
 from whence he came, were opposed to the Institution in 
 its present form/ 
 
 Georgia, by Major Cuthbert ; - — declared the very oppo- 
 site. 
 
 Captain Dayton arose — and informed the Meeting that 
 he did not know the sentiments of the People generally in 
 the State of Jersey, but that it was the determination of 
 the Society to preserve and support its dignity. 
 
 Pennsylvania, by Governor Dickison ; — as an objection 
 of the People's, pointed out the hereditary part. 
 
 New Hampshire, by Colonel Dearbourne ; — declared 
 that the opinions of the State were very generally in 
 
 ^ This opinion of Colonel White's seems to be confirmed by a passage in 
 the Postscript to the Considerations on the Cincinnatij published at Phila- 
 delphia in 1783, and written at Charleston, by Judge Aedanus Burke, over 
 the signature of Cassius : Since the foregoing publication was in press, 
 a set of the Kules and Bye-Laws of the Society of Cincinnati established 
 in South Carolina, have been printed and handed about in this city." He 
 cites the first rule, as follows : The State Society accedes to the proposi- 
 tions and rules transmitted to Maj.-Gen. Moultrie by Maj.-Gen. Heath and 
 Steuben, respectively, on the 20th May and — day of June last : with this 
 reservation, that if the said propositions or rules should by any construc- 
 tion be held obligatory on the Society, to interfere in any shape whatsoever, 
 with the civil polity, of this or any of the United States, or the United 
 States in general, this Society will not deem themselves bound thereby : 
 They prizing too highly the civil rights of their country, and their own 
 rights as citizens, to consent that a military society should in any sense 
 dictate to civil authority/' 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 81 
 
 opposition to the Institution on its present Establish- 
 ment.^ 
 
 The President-General arose, and acknowledged the in- 
 formation from all the States — endeavoured to prove the 
 disagreeable consequences which would result to the 
 Members of the Cincinnati from preserving the Institu- 
 tion in its present form — illustrated the force and 
 strength of opposition to it in a variety of examples, 
 supported by his own knowledge, and informations from 
 confidential friends — proposed as the most exceptionable 
 parts and that require alteration in their very essence, the 
 
 ^ It will be seen that there was no reply from Virginia, Maryland, Xorth 
 Carolina, or Rhode Island. The first two States were probably present, 
 but considered their sentiments as delivered by Washington. Xorth Caro- 
 lina and Rhode Island were probably absent at this stage of the proceed- 
 ings. The popular feeling in the last is manifested by a passage in Bailey's 
 Freeman's Journal (Philadelphia, April 28, 1784): "V^^e hear that the 
 State of Rhode Island is determined to disfranchise any and every person 
 who is a member of the Order of Cincinnati, and render them incapable 
 of holding any post of honour and trust in that government." 
 
 It is odd, that the only notice of the session of this Meeting that I find 
 in any of the local papers of the day, is the following paragraph in David 
 C. Claypoole's paper (the Pennsylvania Packet) of June 12, 1784, where 
 it is copied from a Charleston (S. C.) journal, as an extract of a letter 
 dated May 5, 1784, from a gentleman in Philadelphia to his friend in that 
 city: '"I am at present as a representative to the Society of the Cincin- 
 nati, we shall have a very full meeting: members from eleven States have 
 already appeared, and the others are hourly expected. T\'e are wounded 
 in our feelings to learn that so many visionary and ill-founded apprehen- 
 sions, have taken possession of the minds of many citizens, whose good 
 opinions we would wish to have ; and as we are conscious of the most pure 
 intentions, I apprehend that it will be the universal sentiment of this 
 meeting, to expunge, strictly define, and explain, every part which can 
 possibly give, or has given, offence to any honest, candid mind. If envy, 
 or a restless spirit, should still pursue us with effect, we must, I suppose, 
 submit to the rod of power, and lament the ungrateful suspicions of a 
 country, of which we think we merit more favourable opinions." 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 following, viz: — the hereditary part — interference with 
 politicks — honorary members ^ — increase of funds from 
 donations — and the dangers which would be the result 
 to community from the influence they would give us — 
 declared that was it not for the connection we stood in 
 with the very distinguished Foreigners in this Institution, 
 he would propose to the Society to make one great sacri- 
 fice more to the world, and abolish the Order altogether- — 
 the charitable part excepted — that considering the con- 
 nection which we stood in with France, the particular 
 situation in which our Society had placed some of their 
 Officers, he was willing, provided we could fall on a 
 middle way, that would neither lead us to the displeasing 
 of them or encouraging the jealousies and suspicions of our 
 countrymen, to adopt it. But he doubted if this was 
 possible, and if it should so appear on a full investigation, 
 he was determined at all events to withdraw his name 
 from amongst us. . \ 
 
 The General here in confidence introduced a report of 
 -a Committee of Congress, that no persons holding an here- 
 ditary title or order of nobility should be eligible to citi- 
 zenship in the new State they are about to establish, and 
 declared that he knew this to be levelled at our Institu- 
 tion ■ — that our friends had prevented its passing into 
 resolution, till the result of this meeting should be 
 known ; ^ but if we do not make it conformable to their 
 sense of republican principles, we might expect every 
 
 ' This curious passage seems to point out the origin of Art. T, § 9, cl. 8, 
 of the Federal Constitution. Congress at this time was in session at 
 Annapolis : it adjourned June 3d, to meet again at Trenton, Oct. 30, 
 1784. 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 83 
 
 discouragement and even jyersecution from them and the 
 States severally. That ninety-nine in a hundred would 
 become our violent enemies. 
 
 Here the General introduced a private letter from the 
 Marquis Lafayette^ objecting to the hereditary part of the 
 Institution, as repugnant to a republican sj'stem^ and very 
 exceptionable/ 
 
 Jersey and New York take the matter up on this letter, 
 and in the strongest terms oppose the entire abolition of 
 the hereditary rights and honours of the Society. 
 
 Committee rose — President resum'd his seat, and the 
 chairman reported to have made some Progress in the 
 Business before the Committee — begged leave to sit again 
 at nine o'clock to-morrow morning, to which time this 
 meeting stands adjourned. 
 
 Thursday, May the 6th, 1784. Met according to adjourn- 
 ment. The Proceedings of the preceding day were read. 
 
 ^ " Most of the Americans here are virulent against our Association. 
 Wadsworth must be excepted, and Dr. Franklin said little ; but Jay, 
 Adams, and all the others, warmly blame the array. You easily guess I 
 am not remiss in opposing them. However, if it is found that the here- 
 dity endangers the true principles of democracy, I am as ready as any man 
 to renounce it. You will be my compass, my dear General, because, at 
 this distance, I cannot judge. In case, after better consideration, you find 
 that heredity will injure our democratic constitutions, I join with you, by 
 proxy, in voting against it. But I do so much rely on your judgment that, 
 if you think heredity is a proper scheme, I shall be convinced that your 
 patriotism has considered the matter in the best point of view. To you 
 alone would I say so much ; and I abide by your opinion in the matter. 
 Let the foregoing be confidential, but I am sure your disinterested virtue 
 will weigh all possible future consequences of hereditary distinctions." 
 Lafayette to Washington; Paris, March 9, 178-4. (Corr. of Eev. ed. 
 Sparks, iv. 61.) 
 
84 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 Order of the day moved for, and the Meeting resolved into 
 a Committe of the Whole. A private letter was introduced 
 by General Knox from the Chevalier, General Chateaux- 
 leau,' the sentiments of which seemed opposed to the 
 hereditary part of the Institution of Cincinnati. General 
 Washington arose, and again opposed this part as particu- 
 larly obnoxious to the people. In a very long speech, and 
 with much w\armth and agitation, he expressed himself on 
 all the Parts of the Institution deemed exceptionable, and 
 reiterated his determination to vacate his place in the 
 Society, if it could not be accommodated to the feeling and 
 pleasure of the several States. 
 
 New York spoke in favour of the present form of Insti- 
 tution, as perfectly consonant with the feelings of the people 
 of their State. 
 
 A final Keport of the Committee being resolved, the 
 President resumed his seat, and the Chairman reported, 
 that the Committee of the Whole had taken into conside- 
 ration the Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati, and 
 were of opinion, that it ought to be revised and amended : — 
 Submitted for the determination of the Meeting, where- 
 upon 'twas resolved that a Committee, to consist of one 
 Member from each State, should be immediately appointed 
 for this Purpose. The ballots being taken by States, 
 (which is the mode of voting determined in this Meeting,) 
 the following Election is declared duly made, viz. : 
 
 ' M. de Chastellux published his Travels in America : of which work, 
 and its connection with his marriage, see an amusing tale in D'Oberkirch, 
 iii. 287. 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 85 
 
 New Hampshire : . . . Coloxel Dearbourxe ; 
 
 Massachusetts : . . . . Gexeral Kxox ; 
 Rhode Island : . ... 
 
 Connecticut : Coloxel Hum preys ; 
 
 . New York : Coloxel Smith ; 
 
 ■ New Jersey : Chief Justice Brearlt ; 
 
 Delaware : Doctor Tiltox ; 
 
 Pennsylvania : . . . . Goverxor Dickixsox ; 
 
 Maryland : Gexeral Smallwood ; 
 
 Virginia : , Gexeral AYheedox ; 
 
 South Carolina: . . . Coloxel Washixgtox; 
 
 North Carolina : . . . Major Blouxt ; 
 
 Georgia: ...... Major Cuthbert. 
 
 The Committee proceeded to business : and House to the 
 reading of sundry letters and papers before them respecting 
 the Society; some of wliich are referred to the Committee 
 as connected with the Institution immediately and very 
 materially. 
 
 A number of papers addressed to this Society being in 
 the French language, a Committee is to be appointed to 
 translate them. General Moylan and General Williams 
 the committee. They are desired to translate all the 
 French; and arrange them and other papers properly for 
 the attention of this Meeting. Adjourned to the hour of 
 12 to-morrow morning. 
 
 Friday. May the 7th. Met agreeable to adjournment. 
 Major Blount, a delegate from North Carolina, attended, 
 produced his credentials, and took a seat with the Com- 
 mittee of Ee vision. 
 
86 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 The Committee for translating and arranging the papers, 
 report that they have made some progress, and ask further 
 time for completing their business : and lay the letters and 
 papers which are ready for inspection before the Meeting, 
 
 The Committee for revising and amending the Institu- 
 tion, also report that they have made some progress, and 
 ask permission to sit again. 
 
 The Meeting proceed to the reading of papers laid before 
 them respecting the Society. ,. .... ^ 
 
 Resolved, that the President-General have a right, ex 
 officio^ to attend all committees : — debate, and vote. Ad- 
 journed to 12 o'clock to-morrow. 
 
 Saturday Morning. Assembled agreeable to the adjourn- 
 ment of 3^esterday. Entered on the reading of the papers 
 addressed to the Society, in the order they were laid before 
 the Meeting. Major Turner, temporary scribe to the 
 Society, begs leave to resign, which being granted, Colonel 
 Trumbull is elected to that office. 
 
 The Committee appointed to revise and amend certain 
 matters and things in the Institution of the Society of the 
 Cincinnati, report that they have finished their business, 
 and beg leave to lay their proceedings before the Meeting. 
 Eesolved, that they be read and laid on the table. 
 
 The Committee for arrangement of the papers, report 
 that they have ready for inspection of the Meeting a part, 
 which they wish to lay on the table; and ask to sit again. 
 
 Resolved, that this General Meeting will on Monday 
 next go into a Committee of the Whole, to take into con- 
 sideration the alterations and amendments of the Institu- 
 tion of the Society of the Cincinnati, as proposed and 
 
THE C I X C I X N A T I . 
 
 87 
 
 reported by the Committee appointed for that purpose. 
 Adjourned to Monday morning, at 9 o'clock. 
 
 The following is the form of the Institution, agreeable 
 to the Alterations and Amendments proposed.^ 
 
 1-5/. — It having pleased the Supreme 
 Governor of the Universe in the disposition 
 of human afiairs. to cause the separation 
 of the Colonies of Xorth America from the 
 domir.ation of Great Britain, and after a 
 bloody conflict of eight years, to establish 
 them Free. Independent, and Sovereign 
 States, connected by alliances, founded on 
 reciprocal advantage, with some of the 
 great Princes and Powers of this Earth. 
 Therefore. — Gratefully to commemorate 
 this vast event — to continue the mutual 
 Friendships which have been formed under 
 the pressure of common danger, and in 
 many instances cemented by the blood of 
 the parties, and to inctdcate the great social 
 duty of laying down in peace the arms 
 assumed for public defence, by forming an 
 Institution which recognizes that sacred and 
 most important principle, and to effectuate 
 those substantial acts of Beneficence dictated 
 Dy the spirit of brotherly kindness towards 
 
 ^ This form, though not concurred in, constitutes a very interesting 
 portion of the history of the Cincinnati; and is now probably for the first 
 time communicated to the public. The side notes refer to the action taken 
 on its difierent clauses^ as will more fully appear in the ensuing text. 
 
88 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 those officers and their families, who unfor- 
 tunately may be under the necessity of 
 receiving them : 
 
 The Officers of the American army do 
 hereby in the most solemn manner associate, 
 constitute, and combine themselves into one 
 Society of Friends — who, having generally 
 been taken from the citizens of America, 
 and holding in high veneration the character 
 of that illustrious Eoman, Lucius Quintius 
 Cincinnatus, whose example they follow by 
 returning to their citizenship, think they 
 may with propriety denominate themselves 
 — The Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 Recommitted. 2nd,' — The Society shall be governed 
 by the following rules and obligations. 
 
 Recommitted. c>rd. — All the Commissioned Officers of 
 the Continental Army and Navy, as well 
 those who have resigned mth honour after 
 three years service in the capacity of Offi- 
 cers, or who have been deranged by the 
 resolutions of Congress upon the several 
 reforms of the Army, as those who shall 
 have continued to the end of the War, 
 have the right to become parties to this 
 Institution; provided that they subscribe 
 one month's pay, and sign their names to 
 the general rules in their respective State 
 Societies on or before the fourth day of 
 July, 1784 — extraordinary cases excepted. 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 89 
 
 The rank, time of service, resolutions of 
 Congress by which any have been deranged, 
 and places of residence, must be added to 
 each name, 
 
 4:th, — Those Officers who are foreigners, Recommitted, 
 not resident in any of the States, will have 
 their names enrolled by the Secretary- 
 General, and are to be considered as mem- 
 bers in the Societies of any State in which 
 they may happen to be. . 
 
 — ■ The General Society will for the Recommitted. 
 sake of frequent communications be divided 
 into State Societies, and those again into 
 such districts as shall be directed by the 
 State Society. 
 
 ^th,- — The Societies of the districts to Recommitted, 
 meet as often as shall be agreed upon by 
 the State Society ; those of the States annu- 
 ally on such days and at such places as 
 they shall find expedient ; and the General 
 Society on the first Monday in May, annu- 
 ally, so long as they shall deem necessary, 
 and afterwards at least once in every three 
 years. 
 
 7^//. — The State Societies will consist 
 of all the members residing in each State 
 respectively, and any member removing 
 from one State to another, is to be considered 
 in all respects as belonging to the Society 
 of the State in which he shall actually reside. 
 
'90 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 ^tli. — The State Societies to have a Presi- 
 dent, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, 
 and Assistant Treasurer, to be chosen annu- 
 ally by a majority of votes at the State 
 Meeting. 
 
 Recomm itted, 9 th. — The Meeting of the General Society 
 shall consist of its Officers, and a represen- 
 tation from each State Society, in number 
 not exceeding five, whose expenses shall be 
 borne by their respective State Societies. 
 
 Recommitted. 10th. — In the General Meeting, the 
 President, Vice-President, Secretary, and 
 Assistant-Secretary, shall be chosen to serve 
 until the next Meeting. 
 
 Recommitted. 11th. — -Each State Meeting shall write 
 annually, or oftener if necessary, a Circular 
 Letter to the other State Societies, noting 
 whatever they may think worthy of obser- 
 vation respecting the good of the Society, 
 and giving information of the Officers chosen 
 for the current year. Copies of these letters 
 shall be regularly transmitted to the Secre- 
 tary-General of the Society, who will record 
 them in a book to be assigned for that 
 purpose. 
 
 12th. — Each State Society will regulate 
 every thing respecting itself and the Socie- 
 ties of the districts, consistent with the 
 general Maxims of the Cincinnati — judge 
 of the qualifications of the members who 
 
THE C I X C I X N A T I . 
 
 91 
 
 may be proposed, and expel any member, 
 who. by a conduct inconsistent with a 
 Gentleman and a Man of Honour^ or by 
 an opposition to the interest of the Com- 
 ma nity in general; or the Society in par- 
 ticular^ may render himself unworthy to 
 continue a Member. 
 
 13/A. — Each State Society shall obtain Recommitted. 
 a list of its members, and at the next 
 annual meeting, the State Secretary shall 
 have engrossed on parchment two copies 
 of the institution of the Society, which 
 every member present shall sign, and the 
 Secretary shall endeavour to procure the 
 signature of every absent member ; one of 
 those lists to be transmitted to the Secretary- 
 General, to be kept in the Archives of the 
 Society ; and the other to remain in the 
 hands of the State Secretary. ' .-. ; 
 
 14//^ — From the State Lists the Secretary- Recommitted. 
 General shall make out, at the first General 
 Meeting, a complete list of the whole So- 
 ciety, with a cop3^ of which he will furnish 
 each State Secretary, 
 
 loth. — -The Circular Letters which have Recommitted. 
 been written by the respective State So- 
 cieties to each other, and the particular 
 laws, shall be read and considered, and all 
 measures concerted which may conduce to 
 the benevolent principles of the Society. 
 
92: 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 16//;.— In order to form sufficient funds 
 to assist tlie unfortunate, each Officer shall 
 deliver to the Treasurer of the State So- 
 ciety one month's pay, which shall remain 
 for the use of the State Society ; the inte- 
 rest only, if necessary, to be appropriated 
 to the relief of the unfortunate. 
 
 Recommitted. 17?^/^.— Donations may be received from 
 members of the Society or others, for the 
 express purpose of forming funds for the 
 uses aforesaid : the interest of these dona- 
 tions to be appropriated in the same man- 
 ner as that of the month's pay. Also 
 monies, at the pleasure of each member, 
 may be subscribed in the Societies of the 
 districts, or the State Societies; the whole 
 whereof may be applied by the State So- 
 ciety for the relief of the unfortunate 
 members, or their widows and orphans. 
 
 Recommitted. And in order that there shall be 
 
 at all times a sufficient number of persons 
 in the Society to take care of and manage 
 the funds raised as aforesaid, each member 
 shall have liberty to dispose of by deed or 
 will, to take effect after his decease, his 
 right or share in the said funds, which per- 
 sons so appointed shall have authority to act 
 in managing and applying the interest of 
 the funds agreeably to the principles of the 
 Institution. 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 93 
 
 And in case any member should die 
 without having disposed of his right in 
 the said funds^ the State Society of which 
 he was a member shall have power to elect 
 a fit person in his place for the manage- 
 ment thereof^ untill charters can be obtained 
 from Legislative authority for more effect- 
 ively carrying into execution the humane 
 intentions of the Society. 
 
 19^7^.— The Secretary and Treasurer of Recommitted, 
 the State Societies shall once in every year 
 request permission of the Legislature of the 
 State to which they severally belong, to lay 
 before the same their books containing the 
 proceedings of the said Societies, together 
 with accounts of their funds and applica- 
 tion thereof, and upon obtaining such per- 
 mission, shall lay the said books and ac- 
 counts before the Legislature accordingly. 
 
 2O//1.— The Society shall have an Order, Recommitted. 
 which shall be a Bald Eagle of Gold, bear- 
 ing on its breast the Emblems hereafter 
 described, and suspended by a deep blue 
 ribbon edged with white, descriptive of the 
 Union of America and France. 
 
 21<s^,— The principal figure, Cincinnatus; 
 three Senators presenting him with a sword 
 and other military ensigns. On a field in 
 the background, his wife standing at the 
 door of their cottage — near it, a plough 
 
94 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 and instruments of husbandry. Round the 
 whole — ■ Omnia Relinqidt servare Rempub- 
 licam} 
 
 On the reverse : — Sun rising : a city with 
 open gates, and vessels entering the port. 
 Fame crowning Cincinnatus with a wreath, 
 inscribed — Virtutis Prwmiiim. Below, Hands 
 joining, supporting a Heart, with the motto 
 — Esto perpetua. Round the whole — 
 Societas Cincinnatorum mstituta, A. D. 
 1783. 
 
 Recommitted. 22cZ. — A Silver Medal, representing the 
 emblems to be given to each member of the 
 , Society, together with a diploma on parch- 
 
 ment, whereon shall be impressed the 
 figures of the Order and Medal as above 
 mentioned. 
 
 Recommitted. 23c?. — The Society, deeply impressed with 
 a sense of the generous assistance this coun- 
 try has received from France, and desirous 
 of perpetuating the friendships wdiich Piave 
 been formed and so happily subsisted be- 
 tween the Officers of the Allied Forces in 
 
 ' See North American Review, vol. 77, p. 288. The cost of the eagles, 
 I believe, was twenty dollars each : they could not now be furnished at near 
 that rate. It may be noted here that in the legend prescribed by the In- 
 stitution of 1783, as given in the recent publications of the Society (and 
 indeed in the oldest printed copy of the Institution that I have seen, viz : 
 New York: printed by Samuel Loudon, 1784, it is the same), the word 
 reVquit is used. On the eagle, the diploma, and in all their later proceed- 
 ings, relinquit is substituted. The occasion of this change is not known 
 to me. As for the silver medal, it was probably never executed. 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 95 
 
 the prosecution of the AYar, having directed 
 that the President-General should transmit 
 the Order of the Society to each of the 
 characters hereafter named, viz : 
 
 His Excellency the Chevalier de la Lu- 
 zerne, Minister Plenipotentiary;^ 
 
 His Excellency the Sieur Gerard, late 
 Minister Plenipotentiary;^ 
 
 Their Excellencies the Count d'Estaing;^ 
 the Count de Grasse ; ^ Count de Barras ; ^ 
 the Chevalier des Touches; and Admirals 
 and Commanders in the Navy; 
 
 His Excellency the Count de Rocham- 
 
 ' Anne-Cesar, Chevalier de la Luzerne, bad been a major-general and 
 colonel of the grenadiers of France ; but bis later years were given to 
 diplomacy. From 1779 to 1783 be was minister to the Congress, by whom 
 be was much esteemed. He died in 1791. 
 
 ^ Tbrougb the intervention of tbe Historical Society of Pennsylvania, a 
 splendid original full-length portrait of Gerard now adorns tbe Independ- 
 dence Hall, Philadelphia. 
 
 ^ Charles-Hector, Comte d'Estaing, born in 1729, entered the army at 
 an early age, and served under Lally in India. Being taken prisoner at 
 Madras in 1759, be broke his parole; for whicb cause the English, on his 
 recapture, kept him in close confinement. This is said to bave embittered 
 him against that nation for the rest of bis life. In 1763 he received a 
 naval grade, acd in 1778 was sent with a squadron to America, where he 
 was engaged in many important actions. His conduct in the domestic 
 troubles of France was not satisfactory to either party. He became a 
 patriot on calculation, says his biographer, without ceasing to be a courtier 
 from habit. Yet, though a witness against tbe Queen on her trial, his own 
 bead was not preserved. He was sentenced to the guillotine, April 28, 
 1794. In 1792 he bad been appointed admiral by the Kepublic. 
 
 In 1849, Louis A. Depau succeeded his grandfather, the Comte de 
 G-rasse, in tbe Cincinnati of New York. 
 
 ^ Louis, Comte de Barras, lieut.-gen. in the French navy. 
 
96 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 beau/ Commander-in-Chief, and the Gene- 
 rals and Colonels in his Army; — 
 
 Do now further direct that the President- 
 General also transmit the Order as soon as 
 may be to his Excellency the Marquis de 
 Yaudreuil," and acquaint him that the So- 
 ciety do themselves the honour to consider 
 him as a Member. 
 
 Monday morning, nine o'clock: 10th of May, 1784.^ 
 Met according to adjournment. The order of the day 
 being moved for, the Society resolved itself into a Com- 
 mittee of the Whole, General Smallwood in the chair. 
 The Institution of the Cincinnati as revised and amended 
 was read generally, and by paragraphs particularly, that 
 it might be debated on and more fully considered in every 
 possible point of view. 
 
 ' Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Yimeur, Comte de Rocbambeau, after many 
 years of military life and a narrow escape from tbe guillotine of Robes- 
 pierre, survived to receive tbe compliments of Napoleon. ^'General" — 
 said the latter, pointing to Bertbier and otber officers wbo had served under 
 Rocbambeau in America — ''General, voila vos eleves." " Les eleves ont 
 bien surpasse leur maitre/' politely replied tbe Count. He died in 1807, 
 in bis 82d year. 
 
 2 Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil (h. 1723 ; d. 1802) 
 was son of the well-known Governor of Canada. He entered the navy at 
 an early age, and commanded tbe Aretbusa in tbe action so famous in 
 British song. In our Revolutionary War, be was engaged in tbe chief 
 naval battles in tbe West Indies. In tbe French Revolution, he was a 
 decided loyalist. 
 
 ^ On this day the peace between England and America was officially 
 proclaimed, with appropriate illuminations, etc., at Philadelphia, by tbe 
 public authorities. 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 97 
 
 The sentiments of the majority of the Meeting appeared 
 opposed to the Institution in its present alterations. 
 
 The President-General most expressly declared against 
 it : — gave it as his opinion that the 18th paragraph would 
 be construed as intentional in us to make the Order here- 
 ditary; and only an alteration of the terms, but in fact 
 expressing the same designs as held forth in the original 
 Institution. He warmly and in plain language or by im- 
 plication seemed desirous to expunge all the essentials 
 with which the Society was endowed by those from whom 
 it had its origin.^ 
 
 Resolved; to take the sense of the General Committee 
 of the Meeting on the several paragraphs of the Institu- 
 tion as revised; altered, and amended, in their order. 
 
 Upon reading them, it is resolved to recommit all but 
 the 1st, 7th, 8th, 12th, and 16th paragraphs. 
 
 The President resumed his seat, and the Chairman 
 reported accordingly. The Eeport accepted by the Meet- 
 ing, and 'tis resolved that the Committee for altering and 
 amending the Institution be excused further proceedings 
 thereon. Resolved, also, that a Committee of Five be 
 appointed, to take into consideration the Institution and 
 proposed amendments, and make such alterations as they 
 may deem proper; of which they are to report to this 
 Meeting as soon as may be. Elected for this Committee ; 
 Governor Dickinson, General Knox, General Williams, 
 Col. Lee and Col. Smith. ^ . 
 
 ^ The plan agreed upon on the Hudson, in May, 1788, and which still 
 governs the Society, is here indicated. 
 
 ^ It seems evident that though the influence of Washington was very 
 
 7 
 
98 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 Laid before the Meeting and read, a letter from Gen. 
 Armand^ and other French officers (Major L'Enfant^ par- 
 ticularly, requesting a representation in this General Meet- 
 ing or Society. Kesolved, that the consideration thereof 
 be referred to the Committee for attending to Foreign and 
 other Letters and Papers addressed to this Meeting. Ad- 
 journed till to-morrow morning, twelve o'clock. 
 
 Tuesday, 12 o'clock. The Society met, according to 
 adjournment, and went into the reading of letters and 
 papers before them. 
 
 The Committee for the translating of the French and 
 arranging all the papers, report that they have completed 
 
 strongly felt in this General Meeting, a coramittee of one from each State 
 formed a body too large to be swayed throughout by his wishes. A smaller 
 committee was therefore substituted, of whose members Knox and Lee, 
 and perhaps Williams, held confidential relations with the chief; while 
 Dickinson's views are known to have coincided with his own. It is pro- 
 bable also, from his connections, that Smith was not averse to the proposed 
 change. 
 
 ' Armand Tufin, Marquis de la Rouerie, and a brigadier in the American 
 army ; died 1791. His portrait is in the Hall of the Hist. Soc. of Pa. 
 
 ^ Of this officer, who took such an efficient interest in the formation of 
 the Cincinnati, and who was employed to procure in Europe the proper 
 decorations for the members, I find the following notice in a very valuable 
 MS. volume of extracts from the French Archives, procured at Paris by 
 the Hon. Richard Rush, and presented by the Hon. Wm. B. Reed to the 
 Hist. Soc. of Penna. ; which gives the IJfafs de Services of most of the 
 officers of the French army who were employed in America : — " L'Enfant, 
 capitaine au service des Etats Units depuis 1778. Etait lieutenant dans 
 les troupes des colonies lorsqu'il a passe en 1777 au service americain. 
 Etait au siege de Savannah, ou il ete blesse, et est reste sur le champ de 
 bataille. II a servi depuis dans Tarmee du General Washington. On en 
 fait beaucoup de cas, a aussi que le S'r. de Villefranche consomme sa for- 
 tune au service des fitats Unis. Obtient un pension de 500, et sera pre- 
 sente pour une compagnie dans les troupes provinciales.^' 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 99 
 
 their business, and beg leave to lay before the Meeting 
 sundry letters. 
 
 The Committee for altering certain matters and things 
 in the Institution, report that they have made consider- 
 able progress in the business — shall be able to make a 
 final report by to-morrow morning, and beg leave to sit 
 till that time. 
 
 - Finished reading all the letters and papers addressed to 
 the meeting; and resolved that they shall lay on the table 
 until the final report of the Committee for altering and 
 amendino: certain matters and thinsrs in the Institution be 
 made. Adjourned till to-morrow morning, 10 o'clock. 
 
 Wednesday morning, 10 o'clock ; 12th of May. Met 
 agreeable to adjournment. 
 
 The Committee of Five appointed to alter and amend 
 certain Matters and Things in the Institution of the So- 
 ciety of the Cincinnati, report : — ■ that they have finished 
 that business; and lay their proceedings before the Meet- 
 ing. A copy of the Institution as revised, altered, and 
 amended, is in page — , immediately succeeding the Alte- 
 rations and ximendments as proposed by the Committee 
 from the several States.^ 
 
 ^ For the convenience of the reader, the Form of Institution as proposed 
 by the Committee of Five, is placed by the editor immediately after the 
 paragraph to which this note refers. That of the Committee from the 
 several States has already been given in the text. The side-notes to either 
 Form indicate the corrections or amendments which particular paragraphs 
 as reported, encountered in the General Meeting, The Form as here given 
 differs from that printed by the Society in the articles expunged on debate, 
 as well as in some minor matters of phraseology and arrangement; inso- 
 much as it was referred on the 13th of May to a committee for critical 
 correction and engrossment : (^vitle posf.^ 
 
100 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 The form of Institution rejported hy the Committee of Five. 
 
 1st, — It having pleased the Supreme 
 Governor of the Universe to give success 
 to the arms of our Country, and to estabUsh 
 the United States free and independent — 
 Therefore, gratefully to commemorate this 
 event ; to inculcate to the latest ages the 
 duty of laying down in peace arms assumed 
 for public defence, by forming an Institu- 
 tion which recognizes that most important 
 principle ; to continue the mutual friend- 
 ships w^hich commenced under the pressure 
 of common danger; and to effectuate the 
 acts of beneficence dictated by the spirit 
 of brotherly kindness towards those Officers 
 and their families who unfortunately may 
 be under the necessity of receiving them. 
 The Officers of the American Army do 
 hereb}^ constitute themselves into a Society 
 of Friends ; and professing the highest vene- 
 ration for the character of that illustrious 
 Roman, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus, de- 
 nominate themselves the Society of the 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 ■■'-^ Ind. — The persons who constitute this 
 Society are all the commissioned and brevet 
 officers of the Army and Navy of the United 
 States who have served three years, and 
 w^ho left the service with reputation. 
 
THE CIXCIXXATI. 101 
 
 All such Officers who were in actual omcers^iao^^.eieen 
 
 derangea by the several 
 
 service at the conclusion of the War; and upon^TeTeverai^^^^^ 
 
 all the principal staff-officers of the Con- 
 
 tinental Army. 
 
 There are also admitted into this Society 
 
 the late and present Ministers of His Most 
 
 Christian Majesty to the United States; 
 
 all the Generals and Colonels of Ees^iments 
 
 I— 
 
 and Legions of the Land Forces ; and all 
 the Admirals and Captains of the Navy 
 ranking as Colonels, who have cooperated 
 with the Armies of the Lhiited States in 
 their exertions for Libertv ; and such other 
 persons as have been admitted by theii 
 respective State Meetings. 
 
 Srd. — The Society shall have a President^ 
 Vice-President; Secretary^ and Assistant 
 Secretary. There shall be a Meeting of 
 the Society, at least once in three years, 
 on the first Monday in May. at such phace 
 as the President shall appoini. The said 
 Meeting shall consist of the aforesaid Offi- 
 cers, whose expenses shall be equally borne 
 by the State Funds, and a representation 
 from each State Society. The business of 
 this General Meeting shall be to regulate 
 the distribution of surplus funds ; to appoint 
 Officers for the ensuing term; and to con- 
 form the laws of State Meetings to the 
 general objects of the Institution. 
 
102 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 And the several State 
 Meetings shall, at suit^ 
 able periods, make appli- 
 cations to their respective 
 Legislatures for the grant 
 of Charters. 
 
 AtJi. — The Society shall be divided into 
 State Meetings^ and each Meeting shall 
 have a President^ Vice-President, Secretary 
 and Treasurer respectively; to be chosen 
 by a majority of votes annually. The 
 State Meetings shall be on the Anniversary 
 of Independence. They shall concert such 
 measures as may conduce to the benevolent 
 purposes of the Society. 
 
 ^th. — Any member removing from one 
 State to another, is to be considered, in all 
 respects, as belonging to the Meeting of 
 the State, in which he shall actually reside. 
 
 Qih. — II No honorary members shall here- 
 after be admitted but upon election by the 
 State Meetings, with permission of the 
 Expunged. Government of the State in which the 
 Meeting is held, nor shall any member be 
 elected but by the meeting of the State in 
 which he actually resides. || 
 
 7th. — The State Meeting shall judge of 
 the qualifications of its members, and ad- 
 monish, or if necessary, expel any one who 
 may conduct himself unworthily. 
 
 Sth. — The Secretary of each State Meet- 
 ing shall register the names of the members 
 resident in each State, and transmit a copy 
 thereof to the Secretary of the Society. 
 
 9th. — In order to form funds for the 
 relief of unfortunate members, their widows 
 
THE CIKCINNATI. 
 
 103 
 
 and oq^lians, each officer shall deliver to 
 
 the Treasurer of the State Meeting one 
 
 month's pay. |1 And donations may be 
 
 received from members and others : the 
 
 interest of the j)ay and donations, if neces- Expunged. 
 
 sary, to be applied to the purposes before 
 
 mentioned. || 
 
 lOtli. — No donations shall be received 
 but from citizens of the United States. 
 
 Utli. — The funds of each State Meeting 
 shall be loaned to the State, by permission 
 of the Legislature, and the interest only, 
 annually, to be applied for the purposes of 
 the Society : and if in process of time, diffi- 
 culties should occur in executing the inten- 
 tions of the Society, the Legislatures of the 
 respective States be requested to make such 
 equitable dispositions as may be most cor- 
 respondent with the original design of the 
 Institution. 
 
 12th. — The subjects of His Most Chris- 
 tian Majesty, members of this Society, may 
 hold meetings at their pleasure, and may 
 form regulations for their police, conform- 
 able to the objects of the Listitution, and 
 to the spirit of their Government. 
 
 IWi. — The Society shall have an Order, 
 which shall be a Bald Eagle of gold, &c., 
 and as expressed in the original Institution, 
 and in the Plan of Amendment proposed 
 
104 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 by the Committee of the States for revising 
 the Institution, which is annexed to these 
 Papers in its order. 
 
 Upon this Keport of the Committee and the reading of 
 the Institution, the Meeting resolved itself into a Com- 
 mittee of the Whole — Gen. Wheedon in the chair — and 
 with freedom debated the paragraphs as they were seve- 
 rally and repeatedly read. A considerable majority con- 
 curred in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 
 13th, 14th, and 15th : — determined to postpone the con- 
 sideration of the 2d: — the 3d and 6th to be recommitted 
 to the Committee of Five. The Committee rising, report 
 accordingly to the President, who resumed his seat. This 
 Meeting resolves to take up the Eeport of the General 
 Committee to-morrow morning at nine o'clock; to which 
 time it stands adjourned. 
 
 Thursday, the 13th of May. Met according to adjourn- 
 ment, and the order of the day being called, the Meeting 
 proceeded to the consideration of the Institution of the 
 Society of Cincinnati as altered and amended, by Para- 
 graphs severally. — Confirmed the 1st; made the altera- 
 tions in the 2d Paragraph as annexed in their order on 
 page — , agreeable to the reference. 
 
 ^^g=^ The Opinion of the Meeting was taken in regard 
 to the admission of officers of any individual State to be 
 parties to the Institution of the Cincinnati, who had served 
 in time and manner proposed : and in the affirmative, 
 notwithstanding that part of the 1st clause of the 2d 
 Paragraph which appears to limit the right to officers of 
 the Army and Navy of the United States collectively. 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 105 
 
 The ocl Paragraph was confirmed: — the 4th also, with 
 the addition as on page — ; the oth approved without any 
 alteration; the 6th expunged; the 7th. Sth. 9th. 10th, 
 11th, 12th, 13th; — all assented to. 
 
 Resolved that the Institution be styled — The Institu- 
 tion of the Society of the Cincinnati, as altered and 
 amended by the General Meeting held at Philadelphia, &c. 
 
 Eesolved, that a Committee of Three be appointed to 
 prepare a Circular Letter to the several State Societies 
 with the Institution as now amended, setting forth the 
 reasons which induced this Meeting to make the altera- 
 tions; — Governor Dickinson, Colonels Lee and Humphreys 
 the Committee. The Institution is referred to the above 
 Committee for critical correction and enoTossment. 
 
 Eesolved, that all the letters and papers addressed to 
 this Meeting, be referred to a Committee of Three to 
 report thereon ; — Gen. Knox^ Col. Smith, and Gen. Wil- 
 liams, appointed. 
 
 . The thirteen States concurred in the Institution, as 
 altered, &c., except New York, divided: — Smith, for; 
 Fairlie. against; Cortland, absent. 
 
 Adjourned till 12 o'clock to-morrow. 
 
 Convened according to adjournment, Friday, 14th of 
 May, The Committee who were appointed to prepare 
 the draft of a Circular Letter, &c., &c.. &c., report that 
 they have made some progress in their business, and hope 
 to be able to make a final report by to-morrow morning, 
 and ask leave to sit again. 
 
 Resolved, that this meeting will to-morrow ballot for 
 Ofiicers to the General Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
106 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 The Committee appointed to take into consideration the 
 Papers and Letters addressed to this Society report that 
 there are some from France and one from Gen. Armand 
 that require answers; and others that ought to be referred 
 to the Society in France. Kesolved, that a Committee of 
 Three be appointed to prepare answers; — Gens. Knox and 
 "Wilhams, and Col. Smith. Eesolved, that this Committee 
 be authorized to confer with Major L'Enfant on pecuniary 
 and other matters, and act thereon/ 
 
 Resolved, that a Committee of Three be appointed to 
 draft the form of a diploma for the Members of the Cin- 
 cinnati : Major Turner, Captains Dayton and Fairlie ap- 
 pointed. Adjourned till to-morrow morning, 11 o'clock. 
 
 Saturday, 15th of May. Met agreeably to adjournment. 
 The Committee for preparing drafts of letters reported and 
 laid on the table a draft of a letter to Baron Viomenil^ 
 
 ^ In a letter to the New York Society, read at its meeting on July 4th, 
 1786, Major L'Enfant refers to his correspondence with this General 
 Meeting of 1784. Its subject seems at least in part to have had relation 
 to the proceedings of the Cincinnati of France, at the meeting at Paris, 
 March 10th, 1784, and the pretensions of unqualified foreigners. See 
 Extract from the Proceedings of the New York State Society, etc. (New 
 York, 1786), p. 17. 
 
 2 Antoine-Charles du Houx, Baron de Yiomenil, was next in command 
 under Rochambeau. His life was passed in the profession of arms, in which 
 he was constantly distinguished. He died Nov. 9, 1792, of wounds re- 
 ceived in the defence of the Tuileries on Aug. 10, 1792. 
 
 I have seen it stated that when the terms of capitulation of Yorktown 
 were in consideration, and the contents of the British military chest were 
 made known, the French Commissioner, considering that the amount 
 was small, and that in all likelihood Lord Cornwallis would stand in 
 need of the money for the personal accommodation of his troops and him- 
 self, volunteered the suggestion that the point should not be raised, and 
 that the treasure, such as it was, should be left at the Earl's disposal. To 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 107 
 
 and one to Brigadier-General Arm and. They also reported 
 that they had received and examined Major L'Enfant's 
 Account for his agency in France, which was laid on the 
 table. 
 
 On motion resolved, that the oflficers of His Most Chris- 
 tian Majesty's Army and Navy who have served in Ame- 
 rica and who were promoted to the rank of Colonel, are 
 comprehended in the Institution of the Cincinnati as 
 altered and amended. 
 
 The Committee on the Circular Letter and also for 
 correcting and engrossing the Institution, reported and 
 laid on the table the draft of a Circular Letter, and also 
 the Institution as amended, fairly engrossed and corrected. 
 
 On motion, — the draft of the Circular Letter having 
 been read paragraph by paragraph, fully considered, and 
 the same unanimously approved — resolved, that the Presi- 
 dent of the Meeting be desired to sign and forward a copy 
 of the same to each of the respective State Meetings. 
 
 A draft of a letter to Baron Viomenil ; — a draft of one 
 to Brigadier- General Bogenville;' — and one to Brigadier- 
 
 this, however, Col, Laurens, for the Americans, objected positively. The 
 amount, he said, might be trifling to a great European State, but it was 
 of importance to such a government as his own. Consequently, the mili- 
 tary chest was included in the articles of surrender. Viomenil afterwards 
 earned the praise of the Eaglish, by pressing the use of his purse, to the 
 extent of £2000, upon Cornwailis, who, in this emergency, might be rea- 
 sonably supposed to have been in a condition to receive such a supply. It 
 happened, however, that the Earl had a sufficient sum with his agent in 
 New York to meet all his exigencies. 
 
 ' Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, the celebrated voyager, who had been 
 A. D. C. to Montcalm in America during the Seven Years' War: h. 1729; 
 d. 1814. He commanded a division under De Grasse, and in 1781 was 
 opposed to Hood before Martinique. In 1782 he shared in several other 
 
108 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 General Armand having been read and approved, are 
 ordered to be transcribed, signed and transmitted by the 
 President. 
 
 Ordered, that a Committee of Two be appointed to 
 superintend the printing and publishing in pamphlet form 
 the Circular Letter to the State Societies with the Institu- 
 tion as altered and amended by this Meeting : ■ — Mr. 
 Humphreys and Mr. Turner chosen.^ 
 
 Ordered, that the same gentlemen procure the Circular 
 Letter to be also published in the most public news- 
 papers.^ 
 
 Agreeably to the order of the day, the Members pro- 
 ceeded to ballot for the Officers of the Society for the 
 ensuing term ; — w^hen, the ballots being taken, — 
 
 His Excellency General Washington was unanimously 
 chosen President. General Gates w^as chosen Vice-Presi- 
 dent ; ^ General Knox, Secretary ; and General Williams, 
 Assistant Secretary. v . . ; i ^ 
 
 Adjourned till Monday next, 9 o'clock. 
 
 Monday, 17th of May. Assembled agreeable to adjourn- 
 ment. A letter from General Gates was received and read, 
 
 actions ; was promoted to the rank of chef d'escadre; and repassed to the 
 land service, with the grade of marechal de camp. 
 
 ' My copy of this rare tract bears the following title : "A Circular Let- 
 ter, addressed to the State Societies of the Cincinnati, by the General 
 Meeting, convened at Philadelphia, May 3, 1784. Together with the 
 Institution, as altered and amended. Philadelphia, Printed by E. Oswald 
 and D. Humphreys, at the Coffee-House. M,DCC,LXXXIV." 8vo. pp. 8. 
 
 ^ I have looked over several of the Philadelphia papers from May to 
 September, 1784, and find no such publishment. 
 
 ^ Gen. Gates held this place till 1787, when he was replaced by Gen. 
 Mifflin. He seems to have filled no other office in either the General or 
 the New York Society. 
 
THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 109 
 
 signifying his grateful acceptance of the office of Vice- 
 President of the Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 On motion^ resolved: — That Monsieur D'Tarlie/ Inten- 
 dent and second officer of the French auxiliary Army; and 
 the Chevalier de la Meth,^ Colonel by brevet ; — also the 
 Count de Sonnsvielle ; ^ — the Count la Touche;^ — the 
 Count de Kergasien;^ — the Chevalier Ryguille ; — the 
 
 ' " M. de Tarle, aide Major-Geaeral : sert de 1759, etait capitaine dans 
 le regiment de Bouillon : a rang de lieutenant colonel du 2-1 Mars, 1780 ; 
 a servi avec distinction : est rempli de talens." (MS. Fr. Mil. Arch. — 
 See Robin's Travels, 45.) 
 
 ^ " Chevalier de Lameth, aide marechal general, des Logis, capitaine 
 reforme est dans le regiment Royal de Cavalerie. Age de 26 ans. Sous 
 lieutenant du 29 Juillet, 1776. Rang de capitaine le 6, 9bre, 1779. II 
 a eu une blessure tres grave a I'attaque (a Yorktown) : il est a craindre 
 qu'il n'en reste estropie ; est plein du courage, et annonce des talens tres 
 distingues ; est neveu de Monsieur le marechal due de Broglie. II demande 
 une place de Mestre-d-^^-camp en second et la croix de St. Louis en quittant 
 celle de Malte.'' (MS. Fr. Mil. Arch.) ^ "A ete fait aide marechal 
 generale des Logis surnumeraire au mois de Nov., 1782. C'est un officier 
 distingue: obtient une pension de 1500." (lb.) 
 
 ^ Probably M. de Siouville, commanding His Most Christian Majesty's 
 packet-boat, the Warwick," which arrived at New York from Europe, 
 May 3, 1784. 
 
 ^ Louis Rene-Madelene Levassor de la Touche-Treville, who was capitaine 
 de vaisseau on the Hermione, which brought out Lafayette in 1780. In 
 1782, he again came to America, with 3,000,000 francs for Congress. By 
 these means, and by some spirited actions on the coast, his name was 
 popular in this country. He died an Admiral in 1804. 
 
 ^ Perhaps the same mentioned in MS. Fr. Mil. Arch. Escadre de M. 
 d'Estaing; Savannah. Etat Major. Gautier de Kerveguen, capitaine 
 d'infanterie, aide marechal generale des logis des troupes de debarquement. 
 Entre au service en 1775 eu qualite d'Ingenieur de la Marine. Passe a 
 St. Domingue comme aide de camp de M. d'Estaing, il y a fait le service 
 d'Ingenieur depuis 1764-1766. Ingenieur geographe des camps en 1767 
 a ete envoye en Corse jusqu'en 1769. Capitaine d'infanterie avec 
 appointement en 1769, a ete employe sur les cotes et sur les frontieres 
 jusqu'en 1777. II a fait toute la campagne de M. d'Estaing et s'est 
 
110 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 Chevalier da Quesne ; ^ — the Count de Trevalies ; ^ — the 
 Chevalier Maulivriers; — the Chevalier de Yallonge; — 
 the Count de Capelles ; and Captains and Commanders of 
 ships and frigates of the French Navy, who were employed 
 on special service on the coast of America, and who are 
 mentioned particularly by His Excellency, the Minister of 
 France, are entitled by the spirit and intention of the 
 Institution to become Members of the Society. 
 
 On particular application by letter from Lieutenant- 
 Colonel de Bouchet,^ Resolved : — That 'tis the opinion of 
 this General Meeting that Lieutenant-Colonel de Bouchet 
 is entitled, from his service, to be a Member of the Society 
 of the Cincinnati. 
 
 Several drafts of letters, viz. : — one to Chevalier de la 
 Luzerne ; one to Count Rochambeau ; one to Count Barras ; 
 
 trouve a toutes les affaires sur terre qui ont eu lieu pendant les 21 mois de 
 campagne de cette escadre. II avait moute un des premiers a I'assaut du 
 Morne de Thopital de la Grenade, il a encore donne au siege de Savannah 
 des preuves aussi utiles que multipliees de sa valeur." 
 
 ' The Chevalier du Quesne arrived at Philadelphia, March 23, 1783, in 
 command of the French frigate Triumph, with the proclamation of the 
 suspension of hostilities. July 4, 1850, the Marquis du Quesne was 
 admitted a member of the New York Cincinnati, in right of the late 
 Marquis his father. 
 
 ^ Perhaps M. de Trenovay, Capitaine. Lieutenant au Regiment de 
 Foix en Janvier, 1757. Capitaine en Novembre, 1762 : nomme major a 
 Savannah par de d'Estaing a la fin d'Octobre, 1779.'' (MS. Fr. Mil. Arch.) 
 
 ^ "Du Bouchet: — aide Major General: sert de 1770: capitaine de 1779. 
 Excellent sujet qui a servi avec valeur : est plein d'intelligence." (MS. Fr. 
 Mil. Arch.) Probably the Marquis Denis-Jean-Florimond Langlois, who 
 joined the Americans in 1776 served at Saratoga ; and returned to France 
 in 1783, well esteemed by both the American and French leaders. He 
 received the Order of the Cincinnati; and in 1788, was made Colonel. 
 In the Revolution he was a loyalist and an emigre ; he died in 1826, aged 
 74, leaving a respectable literary reputation. (Biog. Univ.) 
 
THE C I X C I X X A T I . 
 
 Ill 
 
 one to Count D'Estaing; and one to Marquis Lafayette, 
 being read and approved, Ordered, that they be transcribed, 
 signed, and forwarded by the President. 
 
 A. draft of a letter to the Senior Land and Naval Officers 
 and others. Members of the Society of the Cincinnati, being 
 read, was approved; and is ordered to be transcribed, signed, 
 and transmitted by the President. 
 
 From the General Meeting held in Philadelphia on the 
 first Monday in May, 1784 — To the Senior Land and 
 Naval Officers and others. Members of the Society of the 
 Cincinnati in France.^ 
 
 ^' Gextlemex ; 
 
 We, the Delegates of the Cincinnati, having judged it 
 expedient to make several material alterations and amend- 
 ments in our Institution, and having thought it our duty 
 to communicate the reasons upon which we have acted, in 
 a Circular Address to the State Societies, do now transmit 
 for your information a transcript of that letter, together 
 with a copy of the Institution as revised and amended. 
 
 Conscious of having done what prudence and love of 
 country dictated, we are persuaded you will be satisfied 
 with the propriety of our conduct, when you are informed 
 our decisions were influenced by a conviction that some 
 things contained in our original system might eventually 
 be productive of consequences which we had not foreseen, 
 as well as by the current of sentiments which appeared to 
 prevail among our fellow-citizens. Under these circum- 
 stances, we viewed it as no proof of magnanimity, to per- 
 
 ^ In the original 3IS., this letter is placed at the end of the Journal. 
 
112 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 sist in any thing which might possibly be erroneous, or to 
 counteract the opinion of Communityj however founded. 
 
 " Nor were we displeased to find the jealous eye of 
 Patriotism watching over those liberties which had been 
 established by our common exertions ; — especially as our 
 countrymen appeared fully disposed to do justice to our 
 intentions, and to apprehend no evils but such as might 
 happen in process of time, after we, in whom they placed 
 so much confidence, should have quitted the stage of 
 human action : — and we flatter ourselves w^e felt not less 
 interested in guarding against disastrous contingencies, in 
 averting present or future political evils, than the most 
 zealous of our compatriots. For us, then, it is enough that 
 our benevolent purposes of relieving the unfortunate should 
 not be frustrated; — that our Friendships should be as 
 immutable as they are sincere; — and that you have 
 received the tokens of them wdth such tender marks of 
 sensibility. For you. Gentlemen, let it be sufiicient that 
 your merits and services are indelibly impressed upon the 
 hearts of a whole Nation, and that your names and actions 
 can never be lost in oblivion. 
 
 " Cherishing such sentiments, and reciprocating all your 
 affections, we pray you will have the goodness to believe, 
 that although nothing could have increased our friendship, 
 yet by your alacrity in associating with us you have taken 
 the most effectual measures for riveting more strongly 
 those indissoluble ties." 
 
 "We have the honour, &c., &c." ^ 
 
 ^ This letter must have had a speedy passage, since on June 25, 1784, 
 we find Lafayette writing to John Adams, enclosing him the new-modelled 
 regulations of the Cincinnati. My principles/' goes on the Marquis, 
 
THE CINCINXATI. 
 
 113 
 
 rrThe Committee for preparing the form of a diploma, 
 reported and lay on the table the draft of a form, which 
 being read and considered, was approved, and is as follows: 
 
 Be it known that — • is a Member of the Society 
 
 of the Cincinnati ; instituted by the Officers of the x^merican 
 Army, at the Period of its dissolution, as well to commemo- 
 rate the great Event which gave Independence to North 
 America, as for the laudable Purpose of inculcating the 
 Duty of laying down in Peace Arms assumed for public 
 Defence, and of uniting in Acts of brotherly Affection, 
 and Bonds of perpetual Friendship the Members constitu- 
 ting the same. 
 
 In Testimony whereof I, the President of the said So- 
 ciety, have hereunto set my hand at -, in the State 
 
 of , this — day of - — , in the Year of our Lord 
 
 One Thousand Seven Hundred and and in the 
 
 Year of the Independence of the United States. 
 
 By order, 
 
 Secretary. -■ 
 
 , => President. 
 
 ^' have ever been against heredity, and while I was in Europe disputing 
 about it with a few friends, my letters to the assembly, and still more 
 particularly to the president, made them sensible of my opinion upon that 
 matter. Until heredity was given up, I forebore mentioning in Europe 
 what sense I had expressed. But Mr. Jay being in Paris, I at once 
 explained my conduct to him, and he appeared very well satisfied. * * * 
 "Whatever has been thought offensive, you see the Cincinnati have given 
 it up. Now the new frame must be examined. In every circumstance, 
 my dear Sir, depend upon it, you will find me what I have ever been, and 
 perhaps with some eclat, a warm friend to the army, a still warmer advo- 
 cate for the cause of liberty ; but those two things, when the army is put 
 to the proof, you will ever acknowledge to agree with each other.^' (YIII. 
 Adams, 205.) 
 
 8 
 
114 
 
 JOURNAL OF 
 
 Major L'Enfant having produced his accompt for his 
 Agency in France; — ■ Ordered, that a draft be made on 
 Gen. M'Dougal, Treasurer of this Society, for the sum of 
 six hundred and thirty dollars, to be paid to Major L'Enfant 
 as the balance of his accompt. 
 
 On motion, resolved ; — That Major Turner and Captain 
 Claypole be a committee to superintend and procure the 
 engraving on the Copper Plate brought by Major L'Enfant 
 from France, the written form of the diploma, as approved 
 by the Meeting.^ 
 
 On motion, resolved That the thanks of this Meeting 
 be presented to Major L'Enfant for his great care and 
 attention in the execution of the business of this Society 
 committed to him to be transacted in France. 
 
 Eesolved, that a Committee of Three be appointed to 
 revise and correct the proceedings of this Meeting, and to 
 make out the Extracts necessary to be sent to the Society 
 in France and to the several State Societies ; — Members 
 chosen, were Gen. Williams, Col. Trumball and Col. Heth. 
 
 Ordered, that the Committee for procuring the written 
 form of the Diploma to be engraved on the Plate do, when 
 the same is executed, deliver the Copper Plate into the 
 hands of the Secretary or his Assistant, to be placed in 
 the Archives of the Society. 
 
 Adjourned till to-morrow, 9 o'clock. Previous to this 
 adjournment the matter of wearing the badge of our 
 Order was agitated, as to time and place wdien it would 
 
 ^ It is probable that all the ornamental designs of the diploma were 
 engraved upon the copper-plate in France, and that nothing but its words i 
 were inserted here. Impressions on vellum of the plate in either eondi- ^ 
 tion are before the editor. ; 
 
THE CIXCIXNATI. 
 
 115 
 
 be proper : and it appeared fully to be the sense of the 
 Meeting that it should not be ostentatious and in common; 
 and only on days of convention to commemorate the In- 
 stitution, or when we were to attend the funeral of some 
 deceased Member. Though no vote was called or taken 
 (as it was thought in:iproper so to do), yet this was under- 
 stood to be a general sentiment, and meant for the govern- 
 ment of every Member of the Cincinnati while residing in 
 this country. In France, it is supposed that a different 
 practice would prevail, and as the Bald Eagle is there 
 held in high estimation, that it will generally be worn 
 by ximericans on their travels through that country : — 
 at least, by all those who may be desirous of this distinc- 
 tion.^ 
 
 Tuesday, the 18th of May. Assembled agreeably to 
 adjournment.^ 
 
 ' Though the badge is often seen in the portraits of the original mem- 
 bers of the Society, the rule laid down here has generally been followed 
 in every-day life. In Europe, however, the Order was, at least until the 
 triumph of the French Revolution, constantly borne in public. Major 
 L'Enfant in writing to the N. Y. Society, in 1786, acknowledges " La 
 favour que sa Majeste tres Chrestienne a bien voulu nous accorder, en 
 nous permettant de porter la marque de notre union dans son royaume, 
 ou nul autre ordre etrangere est tollere. Le credit dont nous jouissons 
 dans les autres cours d'Europe, ou nombre de nos freres, qui y sont les 
 premieres en rang et en reputation, y font briller I'Aigle de Cincinnati," 
 etc. (Proceedings of N. Y. Soc, 1786, p. 16.) 
 
 ^ Here the MS. terminates abruptly. The Meeting probably assembled 
 on the 18th of May but to adjourn sine die.