d
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 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 P