The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-02-20
Socially Of th0 Cincinnati
Mr. Charles S. Davis, Secretary of AsheVlIIe, Gives
Sketch of This Patriotic Order.

I arity between the character of the illus
trious Roman, IlciuS QuintuS Cincin-
natus. and the officers Of the American
Army who having generally been taken
from American citizens, were about to-
Law down in peace the arms they had
taken up in public defense.
. Its inmutable principles were:
Am inceSSant attention to preserve
inviolate those exalted rights and Hber-
tics of human nature for which they
have fought and bled, and without which
the high rank of a national being IS a
curse instead of Il blessing.
An unaIterablc determination to pro-
mote and cherish between the respective
States. that union and national honor 50
essentially necessary to their happiness
and the future dignity of the American
empire.
ITO render permanent the cordial af-
lection Subsisting among the officers
This spirit will dictate brOtherly kindness
in all things and particularly extend to
the most substantial act of beneticence
according to the ability Of the Society.
towards those officers and their families
who. unfortunately. may be under the
necessity of receiving it.
In order to form funds which may
he respectable. and assist the mfortu-
nate. each officer shall deliver to the
Treasurer of the State Society one
months pay. which shall remain forever
to the use of the State Society, the in
tercst only of which, if necessary, to be
appropriated 10 the relief of the unfor
tunate."
Its membership was limited to those
officers then in service. ''5lS well rs
those who have resigned with honor.
after three years service in the capacity
of officers. or who have been deranged
by the resolutions of Congress, upon
the several reforms of the arny; >
provided that they subscribe one months
pay and sign their names to the generaI
rules in their respective State Societies
within six months; and as
a testimony of affection TO the memory
and the offspring of such officers as have
died in the service, their eldest male
branches shall have the same right of
becoming members as the children of the
actual members of the Society"
The Society there formed WAS divided
into State Societies and Washington,
icing waited upon by Il committee for
the purpose affixed his signature the
first, to the document and complied
with Their request to act as the Society
president until the general meeting
called 10 assemble at Philadelphia in
May Of the following year, when this
selection was confirmed and he cOntin-
ucd to fill the office Of President General
until his decease.
The insignia of the Society. bald
eagle, being Il bird found only in North
America, was adopted, at the suggestion
of Brevet Maj. Pierre Charles LEnfant,
Captain, corps of engineers, and the GER
titicateS of membership. ON parchment,
bore the signatures of @. Washington,
president. and H. Knox, secretary.
BY the close Of the year Societies had
been formed in all thirteen of the States,
some of them being organized in the
cantOment of the Army on the Hud-
son.
No sooner was the Society established
than it became an object of fierce at
tack from all quarters which, in this
generation. when it is of so limited
numbers and entirely devoid of political
significance, is difficult to understand
Writers and orators throughout the
country denounced it as an attempr
to form Il privileged aristocracy. Legis-
diSfranchise its members unless they
abolished the hereditary feature. In New
York the Columbian Order now called
the Tammany Society was founded, in
1889. to antag0nize it and. in
striking contrast, has grown into
membership of thousands aud
become the most powerful pol
itical organization in the Union while
p 4
about half "a thousand, is entirely with
ont political influence. Statesmen such
as John and Samuel Adams, Benjamin
Franklin and Thomas jefferson por-
nounced it: The first step taken to
dcface the beauty OF our Temple Of
liberty "a rapid stride towards an
hereditary military nobility" San Or.
der of Hereditary Knights;' "an her.
editary aristocracy, aud yet two of these
so changed their views as to accept hon.
oraIy membership in the society The
most formidable attacks known were 10y
Hon. Aedanus Burke. Judge of the Su-
preme court of South Carolina, in
pamphlet, published in 17S3, over the
non de plume of Cassius in which he
made many wild assertions. aud another
by Count de Mirabean. published in
Paris in 1885, in which he predicted the
dire calamities which the Cincinnati
would bring upon the young republic
In Difference to public sentiment,
Washington, at the first general meeting
of the Society in Philadelphia in May,
1874, recommended radical changes in
the original institution" the principal
one being the abolition of the hereditary
feature and in compliance with his
wishes they were SO made
The amended institution Constitution