hand; he went to that, determined to exert all his influence for its suppression.  He proposed it to his fellow officers, and urged it with all his powers.  It met an opposition which was observed to cloud his face with an anxiety, that the most distressful scenes of the war had scarcely ever produced.  It was canvassed for several days, and, at length, it was no more a doubt, what would be its ultimate fate.  The order was on the point of receiving its annihilation, by the vote of a great majority of its members.  In this moment, their envoy arrived from France, charged with letters from the French officers, accepting with cordiality the proposed badges of union, with solicitations from others to be received into the order, and with notice that their respectable Sovereign had been pleased to recognise it, and to permit his officers to wear its badges.  The prospect was now changed.  The question assumed a new form.  After the offer made by them, and accepted by their friends, in what words could they clothe a proposition to retract it, which would not cover themselves with the reproaches of levity and ingratitude? which would not appear an insult to those whom they loved?  Federal principles, popular discontent, were considerations, whose weight was known and felt by themselves.  But would foreigners know and feel them equally?  Would they so far acknowledge their cogency, as to permit, without any indignation, the eagle and ribbon to be torn from their breasts, by the very hands which had placed them there?  The idea revolted the whole society.  They found it necessary, then, to preserve so much of their institution as might continue to support this foreign branch, while they should prune off every other, which would give offence to their fellow citizens:  thus sacrificing, on each hand, to their friends and to their country.

The society was to retain its existence, its name, its meetings, and its charitable funds:  but these last were to be deposited with their respective legislatures.  The order was to be no longer hereditary; a reformation, which had been pressed even from this side the Atlantic; it was to be communicated to no new members; the general meetings, instead of annual, were to be triennial only.  The eagle and ribbon, indeed, were retained, because they were worn, and they wished them to be worn, by their friends who were in a country where they would not be objects of offence; but themselves never wore them.  They laid them up in their bureaus, with the medals of American Independence, with those of the trophies they had taken, and the battles they had won.  But through all the United States, no officer is seen to offend the public eye with the display of this badge.  These changes have tranquillized the American States.  Their citizens feel too much interest in the reputation of their officers, and value too much whatever may serve to recall to the memory of their allies, the moments wherein they formed but one people, not to do justice to the circumstance