served, as a noble and unequivocal proof of the good opinion, the affection, and disposition of my country to serve me; and I should be hurt, if by declining the acceptance of it, my refusal should be construed into disrespect, or the smallest slight upon the generous intention of the legislature; or that an ostentatious display of disinterestedness, or public virtue, was the source of refusal.

"On the other hand, it is really my wish to have my mind and my actions, which are the result of reflection, as free and independent as the air, that I may be more at liberty (in things which my opportunities and experience have brought me to the knowledge of) to express my sentiments, and if necessary, to suggest what may occur to me, under the fullest conviction that, although my judgment may be arraigned, there will be no suspicion that sinister motives had the smallest influence in the suggestion. Not content then with the bare consciousness of my having in all this navigation business, acted upon the clearest conviction of the political importance of the measure, I would wish that every individual who may hear that it was a favourite plan of mine, may know also, that I had no other motive for promoting it, than the advantage of which I conceived it would be productive to the union at large, and to this state in particular, by cementing the eastern and western territory together, at the same time that it will give vigour and increase to our commerce, and be a convenience to our citizens."

At length he determined, in the same letter which should convey his resolution not to retain the shares for his private emolument, to signify his willingness to hold them in trust for such public institution as the legislature should approve. The following letter conveyed this resolution to the general assembly, through the governor of the state.

"Sir,

(October, 1785.)

"Your excellency having been pleased to transmit me a copy of the act appropriating to my benefit certain shares in the companies for opening the navigation of James and Potomac rivers, I take the liberty of returning to the general assembly through your hands, the profound and grateful acknowledgments inspired by so signal a mark of their beneficent intentions towards me. I beg you, sir, to assure them, that I am filled on this occasion with every sentiment which can flow from a heart warm with love for my country, sensible to every token of its approbation and affection, and solicitous to testify in every instance a respectful submission to its wishes.

"With these sentiments in my bosom, I need not dwell on the anxiety

I feel in being obliged, in this instance, to decline a favour which is rendered no less flattering by the manner in which it is conveyed, than it is affectionate in itself. In explaining this, I pass over a comparison of my endeavours in the public service, with the many honourable testimonies of approbation which have already so far overrated, and overpaid them-reciting one consideration only which supersedes the necessity of recurring to every other.

"When I was first called to the station with which I was honoured during the late conflict for our liberties, to the diffidence which I had so many reasons to feel in accepting it, I thought it my duty to join a firm resolution to shut my hand against every pecuniary recompense. To this resolution I have invariably adhered, and from it (if I had the inclination) I do not consider myself at liberty now to depart.

"Whilst I repeat therefore my fervent acknowledgments to the legislature, for their very kind sentiments and intentions in my favour, and at the same time beg them to be persuaded that a remembrance of this singular proof of their goodness towards me, will never cease to cherish returns of the warmest affection and gratitude, I must pray that their act, so far as it has for its object my personal emolument, may not have its effect; but if it should please the general assembly to permit me to turn the destination of the fund vested in me, from my private emolument, to objects of a public nature, it will be my study, in selecting these, to prove the sincerity of my gratitude for the honour conferred upon me, by preferring such as may appear most subservient to the enlightened and patriotic views of the legislature."

The wish suggested in this letter, immediately received the sanction of the legislature; and at a subsequent time, the trust was executed by conveying the shares respectively to the use of a seminary of learning established in the vicinity of each river.

General Washington felt too strong an interest in the success of these works, to refuse the presidency of the companies instituted for their completion. In conducting the affairs of the Potomac company, he took an active part: to that formed for opening the navigation of the James, he could only give his counsel.

These were not the only institutions which occasionally drew the farmer of Mount Vernon from his retreat, and continued him in the public view.

The sentiments with which the officers of the American army contemplated a final separation from each other, will be comprehended by all who are conversant with the finest feelings of the human heart. Companions in virtuous suffering, in danger, and in glory-attached to.

each other by common exertions made in a severe struggle for the attainment of a common object-they felt that to part for ever was a calamity too afflicting to be supported. The means of perpetuating those friendships which had been formed, and of renewing that endearing social intercourse which had taken place in camp, were universally desired. Perhaps, too, that esprit de corps which, identifying the individual with the community, transfers to the aggregate of the society a ortion of that self-love which is felt by every private person, and which inspires the members with a repugnance to the dissolution of the political, not unlike in effect to that which is excited at the dissolution of the natural body, was not without its influence in suggesting some expedient which might preserve the memory of the army, while it cheered the officers who were on the point of separating, with the hope that the separation would not be eternal: that at distant intervals, they might still communicate with each other: that the bonds by which they were connect. ed would not be totally dissolved: and that, for many beneficial purposes, the patriots of the American army would still form one great society.

This idea was suggested by General Knox, and was matured in a meeting composed of the generals, and of deputies from the regiments, at which Major General the Baron Steuben presided. An agreement was then entered into, by which the officers were to constitute themselves into one society of friends, to endure as long as they should endure, or any of their eldest male posterity; and, in failure thereof, any collateral branches who might be judged worthy of becoming its supporters and members, were to be admitted into it. To mark their veneration for that celebrated Roman between whose situation and their own they found some similitude, they were to be denominated, "The Society of the Cincinnati." Individuals of the respective states, distinguished for their patriotism and abilities, might be admitted as honorary members for life, provided their numbers should at no time exceed a ratio of one to four.

The society was to be designated by a medal of gold representing the American eagle bearing on its breast the devices of the order, which was to be suspended by a ribbon of deep blue edged with white, descriptive of the union of America and France. To the ministers who had represented his most Christian majesty at Philadelphia, to the admirals who had commanded in the American seas, to the Count de Rochambeau, and the generals and colonels of the French troops who had served in the United States, the insignia of the order were to be presented, and they were to be invited to consider themselves as members of the society; at the head of which the Commander-in-chief was respectfully solicited to

place' his name. An incessant attention, on the part of the members, to the preservation of the exalted rights and liberties of human nature for which they had fought and bled, and an unalterable determination to promote and cherish between the respective states, union and national honour, were declared to be the immutable principles of the society. Its objects were, to perpetuate the remembrance of the American revolution, as well as cordial affection and the spirit of brotherly kindness among the officers; and to extend acts of beneficence to those officers and their families, whose situation might require assistance. To give effect to the charitable object of the institution, a common fund was to be created by the deposite of one month's pay on the part of every officer becoming a member; the product of which fund, after defraying certain necessary charges, was to be sacredly appropriated to this humane purpose.

The military gentlemen of each state were to constitute a distinct society, deputies from which were to assemble triennially, in order to form a general meeting for the regulation of general concerns.

Without encountering any open opposition, this institution was carried into complete effect; and its honours were sought, especially by the foreign officers, with great avidity. But soon after it was organized, those jealousies which in its first moments had been concealed, burst forth into open view. In October, 1783, a pamphlet was published by Mr. Burk of South Carolina, for the purpose of rousing the apprehensions of the public, and of directing its resentments against the society. Perceiving or believing that he perceived, in the Cincinnati, the foundation of an hereditary order, whose base, from associating with the military the chiefs of the powerful families in each state, would acquire a degree of solidity and strength admitting of any superstructure, he portrayed, in the fervid and infectious language of passion, the dangers to result from the fabric which would be erected on it. The ministers of the United States too in Europe, and the political theorists who cast their eyes towards the west for support to favourite systems, having the privileged orders constantly in view, were loud in their condemnations of an institution from which a race of nobles was expected to spring. The alarm was spread throughout every state, and a high degree of jealousy pervaded the mass of the people. In Massachusetts, the subject was even taken up by the legislature; and it was well understood that, in congress, the society was viewed with secret disapprobation.

It was impossible for General Washington to view with indifference this state of the public feeling. Bound to the officers of his army by the strictest ties of esteem and affection, conscious of their merits, and assured of their attachment to his person, he was alive to every thing

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which might affect their reputation, or their interests. However innocent the institution might be in itself, or however laudable its real objects, if the impression it made on the public mind was such as to draw a line of distinction between the military men of America and their fellow citizens, he was earnest in his wishes to adopt such measures as would efface that impression. However ill founded the public prejudices might be, he thought this a case in which they ought to be respected; and, if it should be found impracticable to convince the people that their fears were misplaced, he was disposed "to yield to them in a degree, and not to suffer that which was intended for the best of purposes, to produce a bad one."

A general meeting was to be held in Philadelphia in May 1784; and, in the mean time, he had been appointed the temporary president.

To prepare the officers for those fundamental changes in the principles of the society, which he contemplated as a necessary sacrifice to the public apprehensions, his ideas were suggested to his military correspondents; and to give weight to the measures which might be recommended, his utmost influence was exerted to obtain a full assemblage of deputies, which should be respectable for its numbers, and for its wisdom.

Officers of high respectability entertained different opinions on surrendering those parts of the institution which were deemed objectionable. By some, the public clamour was attributed to a spirit of persecution, which only attached them more closely to the order. Many, it was said, were in quest of a cause of quarrel with their late protectors; and the removal of one ground of accusation against them, would only induce the substitution of some other. The source of the uneasiness which had been manifested was to be found in the temper of the people, not in the matters of which they complained; and if the present cause of irritation was removed, their ill humour would be openly and avowedly directed against the commutation.

General Washington was too much in the habit of considering subjects of difficulty in various points of view, and of deciding on them with coolness and deliberation, to permit his affections to influence his judg ment. The most exact inquiries, assiduously made into the true state of the public mind, resulted in a conviction that opinions unfriendly to the institution, in its actual form, were extensively entertained; and that those opinions were founded, not in hostility to the late army, but in real apprehensions for equal liberty.

A wise and necessary policy required, he thought, the removal of these apprehensions; and, at the general meeting in May, the hereditary principle, and the power of adopting honorary members, were relin