As to the question, then, whether any evil can proceed from the institution, as it stands at present, I am of opinion there may. 1.  From the meetings.  These will keep the officers formed into a body; will continue a distinction between the civil and military, which, it would be for the good of the whole to obliterate, as soon as possible; and military assemblies will not only keep alive the jealousies and fears of the civil government, but give ground for these fears and jealousies.  For when men meet together, they will make business, if they have none; they will collate their grievances, some real, some imaginary, all highly painted; they will communicate to each other the sparks of discontent; and these may engender a flame, which will consume their particular, as well as the general happiness. 2.  The charitable part of the institution is still more likely to do mischief, as it perpetuates the dangers apprehended in the preceding clause.  For here is a fund provided, of permanent existence.  To whom will it belong?  To the descendants of American officers, of a certain description.  These descendants, then, will form a body, having a sufficient interest to keep up an attention to their description, to continue meetings, and perhaps, in some moment, when the political eye shall be slumbering, or the firmness of their fellow citizens relaxed, to replace the insignia of the order, and revive all its pretensions.  What good can the officers propose, which may weigh against these possible evils?  The securing their descendants against want?  Why afraid to trust them to the same fertile soil, and the same genial climate, which will secure from want the descendants of their other fellow citizens?  Are they afraid they will be reduced to labor the earth for their sustenance?  They will be rendered thereby both more honest and happy.  An industrious farmer occupies a more dignified place in the scale of beings, whether moral or political, than a lazy lounger, valuing himself on his family, too proud to work, and drawing out a miserable existence, by eating on that surplus of other men’s labor, which is the sacred fund of the helpless poor.  A pitiful annuity will only prevent them from exerting that industry and those talents, which would soon lead them to better fortune.

How are these evils to be prevented? 1.  At their first general meeting, let them distribute the funds on hand to the existing objects of their destination, and discontinue all further contributions. 2.  Let them declare, at the same time, that their meetings, general and particular, shall thenceforth cease. 3.  Let them melt up their eagles, and add the mass to the distributable fund, that their descendants may have no temptation to hang them in their button-holes.

These reflections are not proposed as worthy the notice of M. de Meusnier.  He will be so good as to treat the subject in his own way, and no body has a better.  I will only pray him to avail us of his forcible manner, to evince that there is evil to be apprehended, even from the ashes of this institution, and to exhort the society in America to make their reformation complete; bearing in mind, that we must keep the passions of men on our side, even when we are persuading them to do what they ought to do.