ver, with the warmest wishes of the city for his repose, health and happiness. Long, long may he enjoy them!

The definitive treaty between Great-Britain and the United States, together with a joint letter from the ministers of the United States, dated at Passy, the 10th of September, was laid before congress on the 13th of December. That and the letter were referred to a committee, who reported upon them January the 14th. The nine states present resolved unanimously to ratify the definitive treaty. In testimony of such ratification, they caused the seal of the United States to be affixed to it; and it was witnessed by his excellency Thomas Mifflin, president. The treaty begins-"In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity." Then follows the introduction-" It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most po tent prince George the third, by the grace of God, king of GreatBritain, France and Ireland, &c. &c. and of the United States of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences that have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship which they wish mutually to restore; and to establish such a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse between the two countries, upon the ground of reciprocal advantages and mutual convenience, as may promote and secure to both perpetual peace and har mony; and having for this desirable end, already laid the foundation of peace and reconciliation, by the provisional articles, signed at Paris on the 30th of November, 1782, by the commissioners empowered on each part, which articles were agreed to be inserted in and to constitute the treaty of peace proposed to be concluded between the crown of Great-Britain and the said United States, &c. &c. his Britannic majesty and the United States of America, in order to carry into full effect the provisi onal articles, &c. have constituted, that is to say, his Britannic majesty on his part, David Hartley, esq. and the said United States on their part, John Adams, esq. Benjamin Franklin, esq. John Jay, esq. to be the plenipotentiaries for the concluding and signing the present definitive treaty; who after having reciprocally communicated their respective full powers, have agreed upon and confirmed the following articles." The nine first articles are the same with the provisional, five or six words excepted, to: accommodate them to the date of the treaty. But the following 10th article is added-" The solemn ratifications of the present treaty, expedited in good and due form, shall be exchanged between the contracting parties in the space of six months, or sooner if possible, to be computed from the day of the signature of the present treaty. In witness whereof we the undersigned

undersigned, their ministers plenipotentiary, have in their name, and in virtue of our full powers, signed with our hands the present definitive treaty, and caused the seals of our arms to be af fixed thereto. Done at Paris, this third day of September, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eithty-three. (L. S.) D. Hartley, (L. S.) John Adams, (L. S.) B. Franklin, (L. S.) John Jay.

On the same day the treaty was ratified, congress unanimously resolved upon transmitting to the several states, the recommendation agreed upon by the commissioners in the 5th provisional article: but too late for the credit of America, the benefit of the United States, or the relief of the loyalists. It is conjectured, that between twenty and thirty thousand persons have been forced upon a residence at the new settlement of Shelburne, and others in Nova-Scotia, all of whom might by a temporate conduct and a noble spirit of forgiveness, have been rendered good subjects to the United States. Through resentment they may hereafter prove dangerous enemies, particularly to the Massachusetts, should they be aided by foreign assistance. The United States have not only deprived themselves of their personal service, but also of all their property, which is not inconsiderable, for there are many wealthy individuals among them.

Nearly the whole of the American army has been disbanded; but The Society of the Cincinnati, which the late officers of it have established, has spread a considerable alarm. General Knox, with the good intention of reconciling the minds of his military brethren to the private life on which they were soon to enter, projected the plan, before the circulation of the anonymous papers through the army in March, 1783. When the dangerous design of these had been frustrated by the prudence of the commander in chief, Knox imparted his proposals to certain officers. They were afterward communicated to the several regiments of the respective lines, and an officer from each was appointed, who, with the generals, should take the same into consideration at a meeting on the 10th of May, at which baron Steuben, the senior officer present, presided. At their next meeting, on the 13th, the plan having been revised was accepted. The substance of it is-The officers of the American army do hereby in the most solemn manner associate, constitute and combine themselves into one Society of Friends, to endure as long as they shall endure, or any of their eldest male posterity; and in failure thereof, the collateral branches, who may be judged worthy of becoming its supporters and members. The officers of the American army, having generally been taken from the citizens of America, possess VOL. III.

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high veneration for the character of that illusstrious Roman, Luci us Quintus Cincinnatus, and being resolved to follow his example, by ruturning to their citizenship, they think they may with propriety denominate themselves, The Society of the Cincinnati. The following principles shall be immutable-an incessent attention to preserve inviolate the exalted rights and liberties of human nature, for which they have fought and bled-and an unalterable determination to promote and cherish between the respective states union and national honor; to render permanent, cordial affection and the spirit of brotherly kindness among the officers; and to extend acts of beneficence toward those officers and their fa→ milies, who may unfortunately be under the necessity of receiv ing it. The general society will, for the sake of frequent com munication be divided into state societies, and those again inte such districts as shall be directed by the state societies. The state societies shall meet on the fourth of July annually, and the general society on the first Monday in May annually, so long as they shall deem it necessary, and afterward at least once in every three years. The state societies are to have a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and assistant-treasurer. The meeting of the generel society shall consist of its officers, and a representation from each state society, in number not exceeding five, whose expences shall be borne by their respective state societies. In the general meeting, the president, vice-president, secretary, assistant-secreta ry, tresurer and assistant-treasurers-general, shall be chosen to serve until thenext meeting. Those officers who are foreigners, are to be considered as members of the societies of any of the states in which they may happen to be. As there are and will at all times be men in the respective states eminent for their abilities and patriotism, whose views may be directed to the same laudable objects with those of the cincinnati, it shall be a rule to admit such characters as honorary members of the society for their own lives only; provided that the number of the honorary members does not exceed a ratio of one to four of the officers and their descendants. The society shall have an order by which its members shall be known and distinguished, which shall be a medal ofgold, of a proper size to receive the proposed emblems, and to be suspended by a deep blue ribbon, two inches wide, edged with white, descriptive of the union of America and France.'

The society at the said meeting directed, that the president-general should transmit as soon as might be to each of the following characters, a medal containing the order of the society, viz. the Chevalier de la Luzerne, the Sieur Gerard, the Count d'Estaing, the count de Grasse, the count de Barras, the Chevalier d'Estou

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ches, the count de Rochambeau, and the generals and colonels in the army; and should acquaint them, that "the society do themselves the honor to consider them as members." They also. resolved, that the members of the several state societies should assemble as soon as may be for the choice of their officers; "that gen. Heath, baron Steuben and gen. Knox, be a committee to wait on the commander in chief, with a copy of the institution, and request him to honor the society by placing his name at the head of it." They likewise desired general Heath to transmit copies of the institution, with the proceedings thereon, to the commanding officer of the southern army, the senior officer in each state from Pennsylvania to. Georgia, inclusive, and to the commanding officer of the Rhode-Island,line, requesting them to take such measures as may appear to them necessary for expediting the establishment of their state societies. Circular letters were accordingly written; and the plan of the Cincinnati carried. into execution, without the least opposition being given to it by any one state, or body of men in any...

A pamphlet. was at length published signed Cassius, dated Charleston, Oct. 10, 1783, entitled Considerations on the Society or Order of Cincinnati; with this motto-" Blow ye the trumpet in Zion." It is thought to be written by Edanus Burke, esq. one of the chief justices of South-Carolina, and is well executed. The author undertakes to prove," that the Cincinnati creates two dis tinct orders among the Americans-1st, A race of hereditary nobles, founded on the military, together with the powerful families, ́and first-rate, leading men in the state, whose view it will ever be, to rule and 2dly, The people or plebeians, whose only view is not to be oppressed; but whose certain fate it will be to suffer coppression under the institution. Remarking upon the reason for the members being called the Cincinnati, he exclaims-- As they were taken from the citizens, why in the name of God not be contented to return to citizenship, without usurping an he reditary order? Or with what propriety can they denominate themselves from Cincinnatus, with an ambition so rank as, to aim at nothing less, than Otium cum Dignitate, Retirement and a peerage? Did that virtuous Roman, having subdued the enemies of his country, and returned home to tend his vineyard and plant his cabbages-did he confer an hereditary order of peerage on himself and fellow-soldiers? I answer, no; it was more than he dared to do." When near the end he says-" With regard to myself, I will be candid to own, that although I am morally certain the institution will entail upon us the evils I have mentioned; yet I have not the most distant idea, that it will come to a

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dissolution. The first class, or leading gentry in the state [of South-Carolina] and who always hold the government, will find their interest in supporting a distinction that will gratify their ambition, by removing them far above their fellow-citizens: The middling order of our gentry, and substantial landholders, may see its tendency; but they can take no step to oppose it, hav ing little to do with government. And the lower class, with the city populace, will never reason on it, till they feel the smart, and then they will have neither the power nor the capacity for a reformation.'

The alarm is become so universal, that the general society, at their meeting to be held at Philadelphia in May, must agree upon alterations, and remove the most obnoxious parts of the plan, or the states will be likely to set their faces against the Cincinnati, as a dangerous order. Many of the American officers have undoubtedly become members merely upon prudential motives, and will join their influence for the removal of such obnoxious parts. General Greene, the late commanding officer of the southern army, has acknowledged to me in conversation, that there is not in the society, as at present constituted, a delicacy with regard to the general body of American citizens; and it may be fairly presumed, that a similar sentiment is espoused by the late commander in chief. It is to be hoped, that the several states will unite in determining, that the society shall dissolve with the deaths of the present officers and honorary members, and that it shall not be perpetuated by an accession of new and younger ones. In their late contest with Great-Britain they acted upon the maxim-obsta principus. They must apply it afresh for their security against lordly dominion.

How much a people, and governmental powers, are prone to put up with and practise internal encroachments upon liberty, when they have secured themselves from such as are foreign, may appear from the following facts.

In 1782, captain Gilbert Dench was chosen for Hopkinton, and suffered to sit as member in the Massachusetts house of representatives, though he had a dwelling in and lived at Boston for a 'full year before the choice. Edward Pope, esq. was representative for Dartmouth, and naval officer at the same time. Both were under an 'absolute disqualification by the constitution. On Tuesday the 6th of May, 1783, the town of Boston, which could not comply with a warden-act, upon the plea that it was against the constitution, chose James Sullivan, esq. one of their representatives in direct opposition to the constitution, which requires that every representative should have been an inhabitant of the

town.