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 //■.. Uimilmrlt/ ,/ ClCN'!' ('•■■OIICK \i'.\.SII I \<: TON 
 
boc\e.^il o-t tne. Cincinnati 
 
 The Cincinnati 
 
 in the 
 
 Centennial Celebration 
 
 of the 
 
 Inauguration of the Government of the United States 
 under the Constitution, 
 
 and of 
 
 George Washington 
 
 as President. 
 
 April, 1889. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1890, by 
 
 Aba Bibd Gahdikik, LL.D., Secretary General, 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 O^ 
 
 PRESS OF 
 ^ EZOHANOK PEDmNG COMPAKT, 
 
 ^^^ 17 BBOAD aTRHBT, 
 
 KKW TORK. 
 
,/- 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 HE National Centennial Celebration of the in- 
 auguration of the Government of the United 
 States of America under the Constitution, and 
 of the induction of His Excellency General 
 George Washington, LL.D., President General 
 of the Society of the Cincinnati, into the office 
 of President of the United States, was initiated by the New 
 York Historical Society, the New York Chamber of Commerce, 
 and the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, whose respective 
 Committees were combined under the chairmanship of the Hon. 
 Abram Stevens Hewitt, LL.D., Mayor of the City of New York, 
 and, with the addition of other well-known citizens, formed 
 into appropriate committees. 
 
 In such a National celebration the members of the Society 
 of the Cincinnati could not but take the deepest interest, 
 because the sole political principle embodied in 1783 in the 
 "Institution'' of their Order had been directed towards secur- 
 ing an adequate and effective National Government for National 
 purposes. 
 
 The original Cincinnati had actively and potentially exerted 
 themselves to this end, and, in the Constitution, had found 
 an exemplification of all their hopes, while, at the same time, 
 its ratification and inauguration had terminated the political 
 efforts of their order. 
 
 It was, therefore, peculiarly appropriate that the Cincinnati 
 should initiate the Centennial Celebration, and for this pur- 
 
pose, in compliance with the desire of many members, a com- 
 mittee took charge of the necessary arrangements for a Com- 
 memorative Banquet, and for religious services in Saint Paul's 
 Chapel, in Broadway, where the Cincinnati had in the early 
 days of the RepubUc, after the peace of 1783, often assembled. 
 
 lEsecutive Committee for tbe Commemorative Celebration.. 
 
 Zbe Secretary ©enctal. fjenrg Cbaiser Dtowtic, 
 
 Jamee fli. THarnum, Jobn Cropper, 
 
 Cbarlee JBeattg aiejanOcr. 
 
To the Members 
 
 of the Society of the Cineinnati. 
 
 New Tobk, 10th April, 1889. 
 
 The Centennial of the Inauguration of General Washington as President of 
 the United States, and of the Government under the Constitution, will be appro- 
 priately celebrated in the City of New York, on the 29th and 30th April, and Ist 
 May, 1889, under the management of a Committee of Citizens duly designated for 
 that purpose. 
 
 This celebration, being national in character and commemorative of a great 
 event, receives the cordial co-operation of the General Government, and of the 
 Governments, respectively, of the States and Territories. 
 
 The Cincinnati are particularly interested in the due observance of this Cen- 
 tennial because the only political principle incorporated in their ' ' Institution " 
 found expression in the Constitution of the United States, and thenceforward 
 the Order devoted itself to its domestic concerns. 
 
 The history of the Cincinnati, however, shows how earnestly and potentially 
 they strove to secure the formation and adoption of the Constitution, and when 
 their President General had been inaugurated as President of the United States, 
 they told him, in their congratulations on the following 4th of July, that the 
 Constitution of the United States was what they had fought for in the Revolution. 
 
 From 1783 to 1789, the Order of the Cincinnati was the only organization in 
 the United States devoted to ' ' promoting and cherishing between the respecrive 
 States that Union and Natimial Honor, so essentially necessary to their happiness 
 and to the future dignity of the American Empire." 
 
 It seems incumbent, therefore, on the Cincinnati to celebrate in some appro- 
 priate way this National Centennial. 
 
 In accordance with the expressed desire of many members, and with the 
 cordial consent of the Standing Committee of the Society of the Cincinnati in 
 the State of New York, it is proposed that the members of the Cincinnati shall 
 inaugurate the Centennial by a Subscription Banquet in the City of New York, 
 on Saturday evening, the 27th April, and on Sunday, the 28th April, proceed to 
 Saint Paul's Chapel, Broadway, for religious services, to be conducted by the 
 Right Reverend William Stevens Perry, Bishop of Iowa, assisted by the Reverend 
 Dr. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, President of the South Carolina State Society 
 of Cincinnati, Chaplains General of the Order. 
 
 7 
 
You are respectfully requested, immediately upon receipt of this communica- 
 tion, to notify Asa Bird Gardiner, LL.D., Secretary General of the Order of the 
 Cincinnati, 31 Nassau Street, New York City, whether you will attend. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 EDMUND L. BAYLIES, of Massachusetts Society. 
 EDGAR HOLDEN, M. D., of Massachusetts Society. 
 JA5IES M. VARNUM, of Rhode Island Society. 
 HENRY THAYER DROWNE, of Rhode Island Society. 
 ALEXANDER JAMES CLINTON, of New York Society. 
 JOHN CROPPER, of New York Society. 
 CLIFFORD STANLEY SIMS, of New Jersey Society. 
 FRANCIS BARBER 06DEN, of New Jersey Society. 
 WILLIAM WAYNE, of Pennsylvania Society. 
 CHARLES B. ALEXANDER, of Pennsylvania Society. 
 RICHARD M. McSHERRY, of Maryland Society. 
 H. RIEMAN DUVAL, of Maryland Society. 
 FELIX WARLEY, of South Carolina Society. 
 THOMAS PINCKNEY, of South CaroUna Society. 
 
 The responses to this communication were most earnest 
 and appreciative. 
 
 Those members, not abroad, who were prevented by sick- 
 ness or other cause from participation, made haste to express 
 their regrets at their inability to participate. 
 
 As illustrative of the sentiments of the members : 
 
 Commodore "William D. Whiting, U. S. Navy, an heredi- 
 tary member in the Massachusetts State Society, wrote, from 
 his home in New York City, returning thanks for the invita- 
 tion, and added : 
 
 "I regret, on account of total blindness, my inability to 
 join with our fellow members on so interesting an occasion." 
 
 Brevet Brig. -Gen. William Raymond Lee, of Roxbury, 
 Mass., and Mr. Samuel C. Clarke, of Marietta, Ga., hereditary 
 members in the same State Society, regretted their inability to 
 attend, on account, respectively, of illness and the infirmities 
 of old age. 
 8 
 
Lieut. Alfred B. Jackson, Ninth U. S. Cavalry, an heredi- 
 tary member in the same State Society, regretted that his 
 public duties at the U. S. Military Academy would prevent 
 his attendance. 
 
 Mr. John Beatty, of Doylestown, Penn., an hereditary 
 member of the Pennsylvania State Society, expressed his "ex- 
 treme veneration for everything relating to General Washing- 
 ton," but found himself, by reason of his advanced age, forced 
 "to give up the pleasure of attending the meeting." 
 
 The Hon. John Thompson Nixon, LL. D., of Trenton, 
 N. J., U. S. District Judge for New Jersey, and a member of 
 the New Jersey State Society of the Cincinnati, said : 
 
 "I heartily approve of the arrangements made, and deeply 
 regret that the state of my health will prevent me from taking 
 part in the proceedings." 
 
 Mr. William Lloyd, of Freehold, N. J., an hereditary mem- 
 ber in the New Jersey State Society since 4th July, 1837, said : 
 " I must deny myself the pleasure of being present at the 
 celebration of the Centennial of the inauguration of General 
 Washington. 
 
 "It would be imprudent for me to make the experiment, 
 having entered my ninetieth year the 26th March last, and still 
 in active business, and have failed but one time to be present 
 at the annual meeting in fifty years." 
 
Members who became Subscribers to the 
 Commemoration : 
 
 SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 
 
 IK THK 
 
 STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 *Mr. Edmund Lin'COLN Baylies, A. M., LL. B New York, N. Y. 
 
 *Mr. William Henry Burbeck New London, Conn. 
 
 •Hon. Samuel Crocker Cobb Boston, Mass. 
 
 President, Mass. Society of Cincinnati. 
 
 *Mr. David Greene Haskins, Jr., A. M., LL. B Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 •Surgeon Edgar Holden, M. D Newark, N.J. 
 
 •Mr. Thornton K. Lothrop. . Boston, Mass. 
 
 •Mr. Alfred Ethelbert Smith Bronxville, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Charles P. Trumbull Beverly, Mass. 
 
 •Mr. Alexander Williams Boston, Mass. 
 
 SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 
 
 IN THE 
 
 STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 
 
 *Mr. Malcom Henry Angell Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Mr. William Blodget, A. M Boston. Mass. 
 
 *Mr. Henry Jackson Brightman New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Rev. Henry Barton Chapin, A. M., Ph. D New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Henry Thayer Drowne New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Hon. Asa Bird Gardiner, A. M., LL. D Garden City, N. Y. 
 
 Secretary General, Society of Cincinnati. 
 
 *Rev. William Wallace Greene Church Creek, Md. 
 
 •Mr. Henry Waterman Holden, A. M Huntington, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Henry Hutchinson Hollister New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Right Rev. William Stevens Perry, D. D., LL. D., D. C. L Davenport, Iowa. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Arnold Peirce East Greenwich, R. I. 
 
 •Mr. Sylvanus Albert Reed, A. M., Ph. D New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Hon. James M. Varnum, A. M., LL. B New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Surgeon William Argyle Watson, M. D New York, N. Y. 
 
 10 
 
SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 
 
 IN THE 
 
 STATE OF NEW YORK. 
 
 •Mr. William Addoms Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Robert Percy Alden, A. B Cornwall, Pa. 
 
 •Mr. Thomas Mackaness Ludlow Chrystie, M. D New York, N. Y. 
 
 Mr. Alexander James Clinton New York, N. Y. 
 
 Hon. John Cochrane, A. M New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. John Cropper, A. M., LL. B Washington, D. C. 
 
 Mr. Thomas De Witt Cuyler Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Hon. Hamilton Fish, A. M., LL. D New York, N. Y. 
 
 President General, Society of Cincinnati. 
 •Mr. William Ogden Giles Kingsbridge, N. Y. 
 
 Hon. Alexander Hamilton Irvington, N. Y. 
 
 Hon. WiCKHAM Hoffman, A. B New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Dixon Gedney Hughes Jersey City, N. J. 
 
 •Mr. Frederick J abez Huntington Norwich, Conn. 
 
 Mr. John De Courcy Ireland New York, N. Y. 
 
 *Mr. Charles Scott McKnight Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
 
 'Captain Arthur Morris, U.S. Army New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Talbot Olyphant New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. John Alexander Rutherford New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Edward Wright Tapp Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Herbert Gray Torrey, A. B Sterling, N.J. 
 
 •Mr. James Stevenson Van Cortlandt Croton Landing, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Charles Henry Ward, A. M New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. William Greene Ward, A. B New York, N. Y. 
 
 •Brev. Major-Gen. Alexander Stewart Webb, LL. D New York. N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. Robert Stewart Webb New York, N. Y. 
 
 SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 
 
 IN THE 
 
 STATE OF NEW JERSEY. 
 
 *Mr. William Wilmot Ballard Elmira, N. Y. 
 
 •Mr. William Pancoast Barber Elizabeth, N.J. 
 
 Mr. Robert Wallace Burnet Cincinnati, O. 
 
 *Mr. Herman Burgin, A. M., M. D Germantown, Pa. 
 
 Assistant Treasurer General, Society of Cincinnati. 
 
 Hon. John Lambert Cadwalader, A. M., LL. B New York, N. Y. 
 
 Mr. Edward Nicoll Dickerson, LL. D New York, N. Y. 
 
 *Major William Miller Este, A. M New York, N. Y. 
 
 ♦Hon. John Fitch, A. M New York, N. Y. 
 
 Hon. Robert Stockton Green, A. M., LL. D Elizabeth, N. J. 
 
 Governor of New Jersey. 
 
 Brev. Brig. -Gen. Edward Burd Grubb Edgewater, N. J. 
 
 *Mr. Paul Augustine Hendry Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 *Mr. Franklin Davenport Howell Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 *Mr. Wessel Ten Broeck Stout Imlay Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Mr. Frederick Wolcott Jackson Newark, N. J. 
 
 *Mr. Thomas Talmadge Kinney, M. D Newark, N. J. 
 
 *Mr. George Tibbits Lane Troy, N. Y. 
 
 *Mr. Flavel McGee Jersey City, N. J. 
 
 11 
 
*Mr. James Mortimer Montgomery New York, N. Y. 
 
 *Mr. William Case Osmun Finderne, N. J. 
 
 *Hon. Charles Smith Scott New Brunswick, N. J. 
 
 *Rev. Samuel Moore Shute, D. D Washington, D. C. 
 
 Hon. Clifford Stanley Sims Mount Holly, N.J. 
 
 President, New Jersey Society of Cincinnati 
 
 *Mr. William Chetwood Spencer Elizabeth, N. J.- 
 
 *Adjt.-Gen. William Scudder Stryker, A. M Trenton, N. J. 
 
 *Mr. William Winans Thomas Elizabeth, N. J. 
 
 SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 
 
 IN THE 
 
 STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 •Mr. Charles Beatty Ale.xander, A.M., LL. B New York, N. V. 
 
 Mr. Charles E. Cadwalader, M. D Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 •Mr. William Macpherson Horner Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 •Mr. Lewis Bush Jackson Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 •Hon. William Wayne Paoli, Pa. 
 
 President, Pennsylvania Society of Cincinnati 
 
 •Major Grant Weidman Lebanon, Pa. 
 
 SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 
 
 IN THE 
 
 STATE OF MARYLAND. 
 
 *Prof. Edward Graham Daves Baltimore, Md, 
 
 Mr. Henry Rieman Duval Islip, N. Y. 
 
 *Mr. John Sterett Gittings Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Mr. Richard Meredith McSherry Baltimore, Md. 
 
 *Mr. Charles Manigault Morris Baltimore, Md. 
 
 *Captain Daniel Morgan Taylor, U. S. Army Washington, D. C. 
 
 •Commander Henry Clay Taylor, U. S. Navy Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
 
 *Mr. Oswald Tilghman Easton, Talbot Co., Md. 
 
 *Hon. William Benning Webb Washington, D. C. 
 
 President, Commissioners District of Columbia. 
 
 SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI 
 
 IN THE 
 
 STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Rev. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, S. T. D Charleston, S. C. 
 
 President, South Carolina Society of Cincmnati. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Pinckney Richmond, Va. 
 
 *Hon. James Simons, A. M Charleston, S. C. 
 
 Speaker of South Carolina House of Representatives. 
 
 *Mr. Stephen Calhoun Smith New York, N. Y. 
 
 *Mr. Felix Warley New York, N. Y. 
 
 * Present at the Commemorative Banquet. 
 
 'h 
 
 Mr. WiLUAM Addoms, of the New York Society, died in Brooklyn, N. Y., January IJth, 1890, in the 
 eiphty-sixth year of his age. 
 
 Jlr. Edward Nicoll Dickerson, LL. D., of the New Jersey Society, died in Far Eockaway, Long 
 Island, N. Y.. Decemljer 1\>, 18S9, In the sixty-fifth year of his age. 
 
 Hon. JoBN TnoMrsoN NrsoN. LL. D., of the New Jersey Society, died in Stockbridge, Mass., Septem- 
 ber 28, 1889, in the seventieth year of his age. 
 
 12 
 
The 
 
 Commemorative Banquet 
 
 of 
 
 The Cincinnati 
 
 at the 
 
 Lawyers' Club, 
 
 April 27, 1889. 
 
HE Commemorative Banquet was held in the 
 rooms of the Lawyers' Club, in the Equitable 
 Insurance Building, in the city of New York, 
 on the evening of April 27, 1889. 
 
 The members assembled in the Reception- 
 Eoom of the club, with the "following named invited guests: — 
 
 Brevet Major - General the Hon. Rutherford Birchard 
 Hayes, LL.D., Ex-President of the United States and Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of 
 the United States. 
 
 Hon. Frederick Samuel Tallmadge, President of the 
 Society of the Sons of the Revolution. 
 
 Mr. Clarence Winthrop Bowen, Ph.D., Secretary of the 
 General Committee of the Centennial Celebration. 
 
 In the unavoidable absence, on account of illness, of the 
 Hon. Hamilton Fish, LL.D., President General and President 
 of the General Committee of the Centennial Celebration, the 
 Hon. Samuel Crocker Cobb, President of the Massachusetts 
 State Society of the Cincinnati, by invitation of the Executive 
 Committee, acted as Chairman; and a telegram of affectionate 
 greeting was sent, by desire of the members present, to their 
 venerable and honored President General expressive of their 
 regret that he could not be with them. 
 
 At the hour named, the members and guests proceeded to 
 the large dining hall of the club, where grace was said by 
 
 16 
 
the Rev. Dr. Samuel M. Shute, one of the Chaplains General 
 of the Cincinnati. 
 
 The table and the hall were profusely and tastefully 
 decorated with flowers. 
 
 The menu and toast list were as follows: — 
 
 Menu. 
 
 Little Neck Clams. 
 
 POTAGES. 
 
 Consommg Washington. Bisque d'Ecrevisses. 
 
 RELEVEB. 
 
 Saumon Sauce Riche. Filet de boeuf Rochambeau. 
 
 ENTREES. 
 
 Timbales Lafayette. Cotelettes d'agneau Viomfinil. 
 
 LEGUMES. 
 
 Pommes de terre Duchesse. Pois fran^ais. Haricots Verts maitre d'hotel. 
 Asperges. Sauce Hollandaise. 
 
 SORBET CINCnTOATI. 
 ROTI. 
 
 B6cassines sur CanapS. Salade de laitue. 
 
 Bombe Hamilton. Petits fours, fruits, Pieces mont€s. 
 
 Cafe. 
 
 Toasts. 
 
 1. The United States of America. 
 
 Pennsylvania State Society of Cincinnati, 4th July, 1785. 
 
 3. The Memory of His Excellency General Washington, our first President 
 
 General. 
 
 New York State Society of Cincinnati, 4th July, 1802. 
 
 3. The Constitution of the United States of America — may it be perpetual. 
 
 Maryland State Society of Cincinnati, 4th July, 1798. 
 
 4. The Memory of Major-General Nathan-vel Greene and all who have fallen in 
 
 defence of America. 
 President General Washinqtoh's Toast in the South Carolina State Society of Cincinnati, 
 
 4th May, 1791. 
 
 .5. The 17th October, 1777, Saratoga, and 19th October, 1781, Torktown. 
 Rhode Island State Society of Cincinnati, 4th July, 1788. 
 
 6. All our Brethren who assisted either in the cabinet or field in the great work of 
 Independence. 
 
 New York State Society of Cindnnati, USA February, 1791. 
 16 
 
7. Our ancient and brave Ally, the Nation of France. 
 
 Massachusetts State Society of Cinciimati, 4th July, 1796. 
 
 8. The Battles of Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth and Springfield, attested the 
 
 valor of the Continental Line. 
 
 New Jersey State Society of Cincinnati, 5th July, 1784. 
 
 9. The Army and Navy of the United States. 
 
 Ehode Island State Society of Cincinnati, 4th Jtily, 1798. 
 
 10. The Tammany Society. 
 
 New York State Society of Cincinnati, 4th July, 1793. 
 
 11. The President General and the Members of the Cincinnati throughout the 
 
 World. 
 
 Massachusetts State Society of Cincinnati, 4th July, 1T87. 
 
 12. The Original Society of the Cincinnati — the forlorn hope in establishing the 
 
 independence of the United States of America. 
 
 By their example may their successors labor to preserve and perpetuate 
 the liberties that their patriotism acquired. 
 
 Toast of Brevet Brigadier-General Henry Bcrbeck, of the Continental Army of the American 
 Eevolution, in the Massachusetts State Society of Cincinnati, 4th July, 1S48. 
 
 13. Perpetual Peace and Happiness to the United States of America. 
 
 General Washington's Toast to the Continental Officers of the American Revolution, 
 19th April, 1783. 
 
 The Chairman, Hon. Samuel Ceocker Cobb, when the cloth 
 had been removed, said : 
 
 Brothers of the Cincinnati, and Fellow Citizens : As the 
 representative for the time being of the committee under whose 
 auspices this reunion has been arranged, I have the honor and 
 the privilege to extend to you, each one and all, a cordial and 
 fraternal welcome to the pleasures of this occasion. 
 
 As successors of the brave and patriotic men who formed this 
 brotherhood, this meeting is both timely and appropriate ; for it 
 is not too much to say — I am sure the historical records will bear 
 me out in saying — that the founders of this organization were 
 the foremost actors in the various movements which culminated 
 in that "more perfect union of the States," secured by the Fed- 
 eral Constitution which went into operation a hundred years ago. 
 
 Very happily, therefore, this centennial anniversary furnishes 
 the opportunity for, a renewal and strengthening of our vows of 
 allegiance to the principles and purposes upon which this Insti- 
 tution was founded, so that its beneficent work may be perpet- 
 uated, and its members made worthy of a glorious heritage. 
 
 17 
 
Most sincerely do I unite with you'in regretting the absence 
 of the honorable the President General of this Society, whose 
 presence here to-night would have added much to the interest 
 of this occasion. 
 
 We are greatly disappointed, too, in not having with us, 
 the honorable the Vice-President General, who has served 
 with distinction during the past four years as the official 
 representative of the United States to our ancient ally, the 
 nation which gave us Lafayette, Eochambeau, De Grasse, 
 D'Estaing, and their compatriots. 
 
 Six years ago the Society of the Cincinnati celebrated its 
 centennial birthday and drank its annual toast to the "Mem- 
 ory of Washington," its first President General. To-day its 
 representatives have assembled in this metropolis to unite in 
 the ceremonies attending the centennial celebration of his 
 inauguration as the First President of the United States. 
 
 Animated and inspired by the many precious associations 
 which cluster around the memory of the immortal Washington, 
 let us pray to God that the celebration which is about to be com- 
 memorated may speak to us afresh of the noble virtues and 
 patriotic fidelity of him, whose example it will be the glory and 
 salvation of our country to imitate. 
 
 But, gentlemen, it is not my purpose to detain you with 
 any extended remarks. We are honored by the presence of 
 several distinguished gentlemen to whose words I shall now 
 invite your attention. 
 
 It is now my privilege to announce the first regular toast, 
 and to call upon the Hon. Eutherford B. Hayes, ex-President 
 of the United States, to respond. 
 
 The band having played " Hail Columbia," General Hayes 
 rose to respond and was received with cheers. 
 
 He spoke as follows : 
 
 18 
 
First Toast. 
 
 ►^ 
 
 " The United States op Amekica." 
 tResponScS to b^ 
 
 llDon. lRutberfor5 J6. iba^es, %%.'S)., 
 
 El=lPrcsl5ent of tbe IHnUcO States. 
 
 Mr, President and Gentlemen: The same thoughtful court- 
 esy which has given me the opportunity to enjoy with you 
 this delightful occasion would, it is likely, excuse me if I 
 should attempt, without careful preparation, to discuss the 
 large and attractive sentiment which has been read. But I 
 could not excuse myself if I were to make such a return for 
 your kindness. 
 
 When informed this afternoon that it was expected that 
 I would respond to this important toast, it occurred to me that 
 it would be speech enough, under the circimistances, to ask a 
 single question, and to give to it a categorical reply. 
 
 Before doing this, I wish to thank the Society of the Cin- 
 cinnati for the privilege of meeting this distinguished com- 
 pany — the successors and descendants of the immortal band 
 of patriots who stood shoulder to shoulder with Washington 
 and Knox and Hamilton, with Lafayette and Steuben and 
 
 19 
 
"Wayne, in the long, hard contest for Independence. Your 
 Society was formed when the officers of the Continental army 
 were about to part, perhaps for ever, from each other, and 
 from their beloved and revered commander. It was instituted 
 to be a memorial of that seven years' conflict, and to per- 
 petuate the friendships formed in that "divine and stainless 
 war." What noble and inspiring recollections and associa- 
 tions cling in adamant around the names and deeds of those 
 great years. They were indeed our country's heroic age ! 
 
 The question I wish to ask and to answer is: What are 
 the fruits of the achievements of those days ? What was 
 gained by the War of Independence ? The answer — the all- 
 sufficient answer — is : Those days gave to us, to the world, to 
 the future of all mankind — the United States of America ! 
 
 20 
 

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 Second Toast. 
 
 'The Memory op His Excellency General Washington, our First 
 President General." 
 
 This toast, in accordance with the custom of eighty-nine 
 years, was acknowledged standing and in silence. 
 
 21 
 
Third Toast. 
 
 ' ' The Constitution op the United States op America — May it be 
 
 Perpetual." 
 
 iRcspon&c& to b^s 
 
 Ibon. Hsa asirt) ©ar&tner, %%.'B., 
 Secrctarg ©cneral of tbc Cincinnati. 
 
 Mr. Chairman : Although the cares and duties incident to 
 this particular commemoration, and to those of a later day in 
 this centennial celebration, have left no time for preparation 
 for the toast to which I have the honor to respond, never- 
 theless no student of American History present here this 
 evening, and surrounded by those whose names recall the 
 illustrious services of their ancestors to our country, could, if 
 called upon, fail to say something suitable to the occasion. 
 
 I trust I may be pardoned for digressing a little to become 
 personal, and to allude to some of those I see near me at this 
 board, whose names bring vividly before me events connected 
 with the " times that tried men's souls." 
 
 On my right is our Chaplain' for the evening, the grand- 
 nephew, representative and namesake of Brevet Captain Sam- 
 
 1 The Rev. Samuel Moore Shute, D.D., Prof, of Eng. Lang, and Lit., Coliunbiaja University. 
 22 
 
uel Moore Shute of the 2d Regiment New Jersey Continental 
 Infantry of the Revolution, in that Jersey Brigade whose 
 services were conspicuous for gallantry in all the general ac- 
 tions in which the main Continental Army fought. 
 
 You,' sir, come next in line, and recall, in the services of 
 your grandfather, Lieutenant-Colonel David Cobb, Aide-de- 
 Camp to Washington, those great events which terminated in 
 that memorable resignation by the Commander-in-Chief of his 
 commission at Annapolis on December 23d, 1783. 
 
 Our honored guest' on your right, recalls the services of 
 the New York Militia in the Revolution, in which his grand- 
 father, Rutherford Hayes, served as an Ensign. The Right Rev. 
 Bishop of Iowa,' second on your right, reminds me that his 
 grandfather served as a lieutenant at the siege of Boston, and 
 his great-grandfather and namesake. Captain WiUiam Stevens, 
 2d Regiment Continental Corps of Artillery, displayed at the 
 siege of Yorktown, such ability in the precision of fire of his 
 battery as to evoke the admiration of the French officers. 
 
 Our honored guest,* next on the right, the grandson of Major 
 and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, 3d Regi- 
 ment Continental Light Dragoons, recalls the gallant services 
 of his grandfather as commanding officer at the capture of 
 Fort George — services which received the thanks of Congress 
 and Washington. 
 
 The later important services of Major Tallmadge under 
 the direct personal orders of the Commander-in-Chief in the 
 "Neutral Ground" of Westchester County, was the occasion 
 of his being made the prototype of the historic character "Major 
 Dunwoodie" in J. Fenimore Cooper's novel of the " Spy." 
 
 At the right of the President of the Sons of the Revolution 
 sits one of our Maryland members,' wearing the very eagle 
 of our order presented to his grandfather by the immortal 
 Washington, whose Aide-de-Camp he was to the close of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 1 Hon. Samuel Crocker Cobb. 
 
 2 Hon. Rutherford B. Hayes. LL.D. 
 
 3 The Right Rev. WiUiara Stevens Perry, D.D., LL. D., D.C.L. 
 i Hon. Frederick Samuel TaUmadge. 
 
 6 Mr. Oswald Tiighman. 
 
 23 
 
His next neighbor," the President of the Commissioners of 
 the District of Columbia, also of the Maryland Cincinnati, 
 recalls the fact that his grandfather. Captain John Webb, of 
 the Second Regiment Continental Light Dragoons, was Aide- 
 de-Camp to Major-General Robert Howe, and a most popular 
 officer. 
 
 I might continue, sir, these illustrations to all here present, 
 but before I pass to the consideration of the toast, I cannot 
 but allude to the member' to the right of the President of the 
 Commissioners for the District of Columbia, great-grandson and 
 namesake of Brigadier-General Daniel Morgan, whose services at 
 the assault on Quebec, and at the battles of Stillwater and Sara- 
 toga, and as Commanding General in the great victory of the 
 "Cowpens," are still gratefully remembered by the American 
 people. 
 
 Nor can I fail to allude to my dear friend " here on my left, 
 the President of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania, grandson of 
 that gallant and intrepid soldier. Brigadier and Brevet Major- 
 General Anthony Wayne, who became eventually General-in- 
 Chief of the United States Army, and whose brilliant services 
 in every action in which he was engaged, including the storm- 
 ing of Stony Point in 1779 and the action of Jamestown 
 Ford in 1781, caused the soldiers to give him the affectionate 
 soubriquet of "Mad Anthony," and has ever made his name 
 a favorite one with students of American history. 
 
 Facing me are two members, one* whose grandfather, 
 Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General Samuel Blachley Webb, 
 served as an Aide-de-Camp to Washington at Boston, and 
 later as Colonel of the Third Regiment Connecticut Conti- 
 nental Infantry to the peace of 1783 ; and the other,' whose 
 grandfather. Captain and Brevet Major John Carroway Smith, 
 First Regiment South Carolina Continental Infantry, served 
 under Major-General Benjamin Lincoln in the bloody trenches 
 of Savannah, and later at the capitulation of Charleston, S. C. 
 
 1 Hon. William Bemiing Webb. 
 
 2 Captain Daniel Morgan Taylor, Ordnance Department United States Army. 
 
 3 Hon. William Wayne. 
 
 ■• Brevet Major-General Alexander Stewart Webb, LL. D., late United States Army, President 
 ■of the College of the City of New York. 
 « Mr. Stephen Calhoun Smith. 
 
 24 
 
The sentiments, sir, Jof the original Cincinnati were fully 
 expressed, as to the Constitution of the United States, in the 
 toast to which I will now try to respond. 
 A ITo class of citizens were as keenly sensible of the imbecility 
 / and inefficiency of the Articles of Confederation, under which 
 the war of the Revolution closed, as were the Continental 
 officers. 
 
 The State Governments had sufficient executive powers 
 to enable them to levy taxes and properly support and pay 
 their functionaries. 
 
 The United States Government had practically but two 
 classes of oflBcials, viz. : the extrenaely limited number of civil 
 functionaries at the Capitol in Philadelphia and the Conti- 
 nental Army, on which the hopes of the nation depended for 
 independence. 
 
 The Continental Navy had long since practically disap- 
 peared. The citizen, at home, having his local rights reason- 
 ably protected by his State, and the theatre of war removed 
 to a distance, saw but dimly, if at all, the fatally defective 
 character of the Articles of Confederation. 
 
 The Continental oflBcers, however, had starved at Valley 
 Forge, in the Highlands of the Hudson, in the Northern 
 Department, and in the Jersies, and their men had often been 
 days together without proper subsistence and almost always 
 without suitable clothing or camp and garrison equipage. 
 
 They had seen the solemn and repeated promises of Congress 
 as to pay, clothing, allowances and pensions broken — all because 
 of the absolute inability of Congress to enforce by taxation its 
 requirements. 
 
 There being no sanctions to the Congressional ordinances, 
 the Continental officers saw those ordinances treated with 
 neglect and indifference, and, as a consequence, they and 
 their men, towards the end of the war, were left without 
 pay for as long as two years. 
 
 But the fire of patriotism burned strongly in the hearts of 
 
 ' the original Cincinnati, and nearly all of them were obliged 
 
 to sacrifice their estates and property — and become beggared — 
 
 in order to support themselves and families, and to continue in 
 
 25 
 
service and prevent the disbandment of the army before peace 
 should be assured. 
 
 Therefore — they were intensely in earnest as to the necessity 
 of a National Government for national purposes, such as they 
 had witnessed in 1775-76, and they were of one mind that a 
 good Constitution was a national necessity. 
 
 Accordingly their favorite toasts indicative of their senti- 
 ments were all in this direction. 
 
 Washington, Lafayette, Knox, and other Cincinnati all 
 wrote urging the necessity of these changes. 
 /^ When the army was about to lay down arms, assumed for 
 / public defence, and disband, the officers, in their canton- 
 ments on the Hudson, formed the Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 The only political principle incorporated in their beloved 
 "Institution" of 1783 was "an unalterable determination to 
 promote and cherish between the respective States that union 
 and national honor so essentially necessary to their happi- 
 ness and the future dignity of the American Empire. " 
 
 Each State Society was required to write annually, or 
 oftener if necessary, a circular letter to the other State So- 
 cieties noting whatever they might think worthy of observa- 
 tion respecting the general union of the States. 
 
 Therefore it is not to be wondered at, that in all move- 
 ments leading up to the adoption and ratification of the 
 United States Constitution the Cincinnati were potentially 
 conspicuous. 
 
 Time will not permit me to give details. 
 
 Nearly all the Governors or Presidents of States, as well 
 as the President of the Continental Congress, were, in 1787, 
 members of our Order. 
 
 Nearly half of the members of the Committee of the Con- 
 tinental Congress which recommended the calling of a Consti- 
 tutional Convention belonged to the Order of the Cincinnati, 
 as did nearly half of the Convention itself, including the 
 President and Secretary and nearly half of those who signed 
 the engrossed copy of the Constitution when it was adopted. 
 
 It was a member of the Order who moved in the Conti- 
 nental Congress that the Constitution as adopted by the Con- 
 
 26 
 
vention, and presented for consideration, be submitted to the 
 several States for ratification, and after ratification had taken 
 place in the necessary number of States, it was a member 
 who, in his place in the Continental Congress, moved the 
 necessary resolution for putting into effect the new Govern- 
 ment under the Constitution. 
 
 When it had been ratified by a sufficient number of States, 
 not only State Societies of the Cincinnati, but the General So- 
 ciety at its next triennial meeting, expressed to their President 
 General their extreme satisfaction, and declared that a good 
 Constitution was the object for which they had risked their 
 lives and experienced unparalleled difficulties. 
 
 With the adoption of the Constitution, the political efforts of 
 the Cincinnati, as such, came to an end. Political parties in the 
 country have since risen and fallen, and political associations 
 have existed for longer or shorter periods, but the Society of the 
 Cincinnati, placed on a higher plane than that of mere local 
 politics, and secure in the affection and respect of those who 
 can appreciate the sacrifices and efforts of its founders and the 
 objects of their "Institution," has continued and still continues 
 as the symbol of the generous impulses and self-sacrificing 
 patriotism which gave to the American people, in the language 
 of President General Washington, "national existence, pros- 
 perity, felicity and safety." 
 
 From this brief recapitulation of what the Society of the Cin- 
 cinnati did towards the framing and adoption of the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States, it can with propriety be urged that 
 it is peculiarly entitled to celebrate this centennial, and indeed 
 it may be said that no other organization in the country can 
 prefer the same claims in this behalf. 
 
 That the Constitution may be perpetual was the hope and 
 desire of our Revolutionary ancestors and is our own. 
 
 Thanking you, Mr. Chairman and dear Brethren, for the 
 particular attention with which you have listened to my re- 
 marks, I beg to close in the poetic language of a patriotic lady, 
 uttered in the memorable year, 1779, when John Paul Jones, 
 in the "Bon Homme Richard," taught the British Navy that 
 Britannia could not always rule the waves, and Anthony Wayne, 
 
 27 
 
at "Stoney Point," showed that the British bayonet was the 
 heritage of the American Continental : 
 
 God save our States! 
 MaJke us victorious, 
 Happy and glorious, 
 
 God save our States! 
 
Fourth Toast. 
 
 ' The memory of Majoh-Genebal Nathanael Greene, and all who have 
 fallen in defence of america." 
 
 1Rc6pon6c6 to b? 
 
 1bon. James Simons, 
 
 Speaf?er of tbe Soutb Carolina Ibouse ot TRepresentattvee. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I thank you sincerely for 
 the very kind and gracious reception accorded to me. I have 
 just arrived in the city and hastened to attend this assembly. 
 I regret that I do not find here the venerable and reverend 
 President of the South Carolina State branch of the Cincinnati, 
 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who I expected would have re- 
 sponded to the sentiment which has just been announced. No 
 man could have done so more appropriately, bearing as he does 
 an illustrious name, identified with the great struggle which 
 gave this great country life — the grandson of Major-General 
 Thomas Pinckney and the grandnephew of Major-General 
 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, both distinguished soldiers of 
 the Eevolution, both Presidents General of the Order of the 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 The Vice-President of the Order in my State, I am here as 
 a descendant of one who was a young man in the days of the 
 Revolution, who, whilst he attained no higher rank than that 
 
 29 
 
of a field officer, had the privilege of shedding his blood in the 
 great cause of liberty, striving, as did a multitude of others, 
 the vast majority of whom are unknown to fame, to fulfil the 
 high duty of patriotism. 
 
 Standing here in this great — ^this wonderful city — the com- 
 mon pride of all Americans — and viewing our country as it is 
 to-day — the great republic of the world — in reverence and grati- 
 tude we contemplate the memory of those who have trans- 
 mitted this heritage, not only to their posterity but to man- 
 kind ; whose enlightenment and devotion, whose blood and 
 sacrifices have made possible what we enjoy to-day. 
 
 Dear to us is the name of Greene — the man whose con- 
 stancy and wisdom, fidelity and self-control, whose never 
 flinching heroism kept alive the fire of Liberty throughout 
 the gloom of the Southern campaign. It is unnecessary to 
 rehearse this great chapter in his and his country's history. 
 Its details are familiar to all who feel any pride in the glory 
 of the country, and I am sure need not be recounted in this 
 presence. 
 
 Greene was a general — a great general — but he was greater 
 still : he was a patriot and the leader of patriots. Justly did 
 he earn his great fame — deservedly is his name identified with 
 the independence of the nation. 
 
 He and the other renowned men of that day did their part. 
 So did their comrades and their followers, who, whilst their 
 services may not have been as brilliant or their renown as 
 great, did as much as the greatest — they did their duty. 
 
 Let us, then, on this grand memorial occasion, with grati- 
 tude in our hearts, offer our reverent and affectionate tributes 
 to the memory of all, humble or exalted, who gave their lives 
 to the great cause. 
 
 What juster measure of the gratitude we owe the men of 
 the Revolution than the simple exclamation, uttered in the 
 nineteenth century, " I am an American citizen !" 
 
 30 
 
Fifth Toast. 
 
 " The 17th day op Octobee, 1777, at Saratoga, akd the IQth of October, 
 
 1781, at Toektown." 
 
 IResponiet to bi tbc 
 
 IRt. IRev. Mllliam Stevens perrs, 2).S>. (® jon.), 3LX.S)., D.C.X., 
 
 aSisbop of ITowa. 
 
 ilfr. Chairman and Brethren of the Cincinnati : It is but 
 fitting that on an occasion and in a presence such as this, 
 our thoughts should revert to our ancestors in whose right 
 we are here to-night. My thoughts, Mr. President and Breth- 
 ren, were thus turned when the allotment of this toast was 
 made but a moment since ; and I confess that it was with 
 a feeling of envy that I recalled the fact that Lieutenant 
 Abel Perry of Massachusetts, member of the Provincial As- 
 sembly, of the Committee of Safety, officer of the 31st Con- 
 tinental Regiment of Foot, and out at Concord, Lexington, 
 Bunker Hill and the seige of Boston, was, in the phrase of the 
 day, a minute man — always ready for the fray ; always pre- 
 pared to do and dare at duty's call. If there were aU we 
 think there is in heredity, I ought to be a minute man to- 
 
 31 
 
night, ready and glad to respond to the toast so kindly as- 
 signed to me by your authoritative command. Would that I 
 were ready and able to respond to words so full of meaning — 
 so suggestive to a patriotic heart ! At Saratoga, on the 17th 
 of October, 1777, the Convention was signed making the 
 army of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne prisoners of war. 
 At the tune of "Yankee Doodle" the American soldiery 
 marched into the British lines while the English marched out, 
 and out of sight of their generous victors, laid down their 
 arms. At Yorktown, on another October day but three years 
 later, another British general, Lieutenant-General Earl Corn- 
 wallis, yielded his sword, another British army laid down its 
 arms, each surrendering to 
 
 " That illustrious man, 
 That unblemished gentleman," 
 
 the General of the Army of the Revolution, our first Presi- 
 dent General. It was in consequence of the success at Sara- 
 toga, a victory won by the bravery of the men of the North, 
 that Washington gained at the distant South the final triumph. 
 At Saratoga, Yorktown was made possible, and though there 
 were days of doubt and defeat intervening — though Valley 
 Forge had its tale to tell of privations, sufferings, discontent 
 and dark forebodings — between these two successes we may well 
 believe that but for the victory of October 17th, 1777, the 
 close of the strife on the 19th of October, 1781, would not 
 have been assured. Thus mingle the North and the South in 
 toil and triumph in the same great cause. Thus from the 
 victory at the North "the little candle throws its light afar," 
 and the Old Dominion is illumined by its gleaming and made 
 more glorious in its last, its crowning triumph. Thus may it 
 ever be, the North and the South united in the upholding of 
 the republic formed by the sacrifices and successes of each. 
 One may not claim the victory without the other. To each 
 its own ; to both united, the fullest, most lasting praise ! 
 
 The "minute "man, Mr. Chairman and Brethren, must not 
 exceed the limit suggested by his very name. My minute for 
 to-night is passed. I will not keep you longer. To-morrow I 
 
 32 
 
am to speak at length in that historic church, which, recalling 
 as it does our early days and standing as it does amidst our 
 noble dead, seems fittingly our chapel, our special shrine, as 
 Saint George's, Windsor, is the sanctuary of England's and the 
 world's greatest order of knighthood. And mindful of the 
 morrow and its sacred duty, I will close to-night with but a 
 word : — Saratoga and Yorktown ! God hath joined them to- 
 gether on the page of history, and in the remembrance of 
 each patriotic heart may their union never be broken. May 
 the welding together of North and South, East and West, in 
 our great and glorious union be perpetual. Let no man put 
 asunder these whom God hath joined ! 
 
 &/^ 
 
 as 
 
Sixth Toast. 
 
 "All OCR bkethren who assisted either m the Cabinet or field in the 
 
 GREAT WORK OP INDEPENDENCE." 
 
 tfiesponbei to b's 
 
 Ibon. 3Fre&ericft Samuel Uallma&oe, 
 IPreet&cnt of tbc Socicts of tbe Sons of tbe IRevolution. 
 
 Mr. Chairman: On behalf of the "Sons of the Revolution," 
 whom I have the honor to represent, I tender to you my sincere 
 thanks for this opportunity of meeting you. In this Society of 
 the Cincinnati I have always felt a deep interest. Indeed, my 
 regard for it is something intense. But towards the Society of 
 the Sons of the Revolution I feel the warmth of a first love. 
 Judge, then, of the gratification I experience in the blending of 
 these sentiments this evening, when you meet to conunemorate 
 the hundredth anniversary of the Inauguration of "George 
 Washington " as first President of the United States, and the 
 first President General of your Society. That gratification has 
 been increased by listening to the frequent reference to our an- 
 cestors by the speakers who have preceded me. If that child be 
 wise who knows his own father, how much wiser is he, who, in 
 
 34 
 
these centennial times, knows his own grandfather. Early tra- 
 ditions have been discussed, and the family Bible referred to and 
 opened by some people, perhaps for the first time, in a vain 
 search for the records of virtues they are supposed to have in- 
 herited and are staggering under at the present time. Indeed, 
 had Sir Walter Scott survived until the present moment, what 
 fresh illustrations he would have found for his " Tales of a 
 Grandfather." 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, while thanking you for the enjoyment of 
 this meeting, let us not forget the admirable tact of your Com- 
 mittee in selecting this Hall of the "Lawyers' Club" for the 
 dinner to-night. Here the President of the United States wiU 
 receive the welcome of the City of New York day after to-mor- 
 row, and I am sure the legal atmosphere of calfskin, parchment 
 and foolscap will be lost in the odor of sanctity and patriotism 
 infused into this room by this meeting. 
 
 "Inter arma leges silent." 
 
 Thus the President will be prepared for the honors that await 
 him. But, Sir, there are other reasons why I thank you for the 
 privilege of being here and responding to the sentiment : All our 
 brethren toho assisted either in the Cabinet or field in the great 
 work of Independence. I am glad of the opportunity of present- 
 ing the claims of "The Society of the Sons of the Revolution," 
 whose Constitution, following almost the exact words of the 
 toast, admits to membership : Any person who is descended 
 from an ancestor, who either as a military or naval officer, 
 soldier or sailor, assisted in establishing American Independ- 
 ence. The Sons have come home to-night to dine with their 
 Sires, and I ask a cordial welcome for them. They are here to 
 celebrate the Centennial, and are entitled to the fatted calf, 
 although they may not be prodigal. You, gentlemen, have inher- 
 ited a proud record of the past. We believe we have a proud 
 future before us, and as I listen with so much pride and pleasure 
 to the tribute of praise you pay to your ancestors, I say to my- 
 self, you, their descendants, are the right kind of material to 
 make good Sons of the Revolution out of, and in that way aid us 
 
in transmitting to posterity your and our patriotic inheritance 
 undimmed by time and untarnished by abuse. Help us to look 
 forward as well as backward, and hold a Centennial feast every 
 year. Shall we wait another hundred years before we shall be 
 patriotic ? You owe a debt to your ancestors. We propose to 
 pay it. Not by eating and drinking, and resolving that " we are 
 the righteous and shall inherit the land," but by publications, 
 public discussions, the erection of monuments to the memory of 
 patriots of '76, and the celebration of anniversaries conmiemora- 
 tive of the battles of the Revolution, and thus strive 
 
 *' To make mankind in conscious virtue bold, 
 Live o'er each scene and be what they behold." 
 
 For, after all, patriotism, or love of your country, is to a cer- 
 tain extent a matter of education. It may slumber and die, un- 
 less kept alive by appeals to the head and heart as pictures culti- 
 vate and discipline the eye. 
 
 Now, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Cincinnati Society, 
 may we not have your aid, your influence and your co-operation 
 in carrying on this good work ? Let us be the connecting link 
 between the past and the future in perpetuating forever the glo- 
 rious principles of American liberty. What we have inherited 
 help us to teach posterity how to enjoy. If our societies can and 
 will unite in such influences and aims, I am sure I can call upon 
 my friend on my left, Bishop Perry, to bless our Union. " Whom 
 God hath joined together let no man put asunder." 
 
 36 
 
Seventh Toast. 
 
 "Our ancient and brave ally, the Nation op France.' 
 
 iflespon6c6 to bt ibou. Jatites /ID. Darnum. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Society: Before re- 
 sponding to this sentiment you will permit me on behalf of 
 the Hon. Hamilton Fish, the President General of the Society 
 of the Cincinnati for more than a third of a century, and 
 President of the New York Society, to present to you his 
 sincere regrets that physical infirmities prevent him from being 
 present this evening, and uniting with you in the celebration 
 of this great anniversary. Mr. Alexander Hamilton,' Vice- 
 President of the New York Society, is also unable, by reason 
 of ill health, from coming to New York this evening, but sends 
 through me his best wishes for the success of our meeting. 
 
 " Our ancient and brave ally, the Nation of France " — a toast 
 offered in 1796 at the meeting of the Massachusetts Society of 
 the (Jincinnati. 
 
 We are carried back by this sentiment more than a hundred 
 and ten years, to the darkest days of the American Revolution, 
 when all seemed dreary, hopeless, and uncertain, back to the 
 
 I Hon. Alexander Hamilton, of the New York Society of Cincinnati, died at Tarrytown, 
 K. Y., 30th December, 1889, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. 
 
 37 
 
days of Valley Forge, where a heroic and gallant army, half 
 fed, half clothed, and well-nigh disheartened, were looking in 
 vain for some hope or ray of encouragement to show that their 
 labor might possibly bear fruit, and that their long struggle 
 against oppression might be crowned with success. 
 
 The clouds gathered closer and darker about them, and even 
 the heart of Washington was oppressed with dismal forebod- 
 ings as to the result of the long continued struggle against 
 fearful odds. 
 
 But suddenly the clouds seemed to be breaking, and as they 
 parted and floated swiftly by, their glorious silver lining be- 
 came revealed to the almost disheartened patriots, filling their 
 hearts with encouragement and with hope for the future. 
 
 For in May, 1778, there came to the camp at Valley Forge 
 the news of the Treaty of Lyons, and that the great and power- 
 ful nation of France had acknowledged the independence of 
 the American Colonies, and had resolved to aid them with all 
 its resources in securing and making permanent that inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 History tells us what a great day that was at Valley Forge 
 when the news was received, and what a grand celebration of 
 the event took place in the camp under the orders of General 
 "Washington. 
 
 From across the broad ocean, from a nation old in years, 
 rich in resources, influential in the affairs of the world, there 
 had come words of encouragement and hope to the poor strug- 
 gling colonists in America. France had spoken, and, through 
 Louis XVI., had said: "Be brave-hearted, be courageous, be 
 encouraged. The great nation of France will stand by those 
 struggling against oppression on the American continent." 
 And it was not only by words that the help was given, for 
 soon across the Atlantic came great ships of the line and trans- 
 ports laden with ammunition and supplies and gold, and filled 
 with troops, officered by the ablest and bravest officers that all 
 France could furnish, to aid us in our struggle for indepen- 
 dence. 
 
 The members of this Society are, as a rule, careful students 
 of American history, and there is surely no need for me to 
 
 38 
 
refer in detail to those subsequent historical events with which 
 you are all so familiar. 
 
 I do not say that without the assistance and aid of France 
 there would not have been an American Eepubhc — that victory 
 might not in the end have perched upon the banners of "Wash- 
 ington, even had he not received this assistance from the ally 
 across the great sea. But I think you will all agree with me 
 that the end came sooner, that the success was greater, and 
 that perhaps even success was wrenched from defeat by the 
 timely action and active and efficient support of our great ally, 
 the Nation of France. 
 
 It is but natural, then, that we, descendants of Revolution- 
 ary sires, should have a deep regard for France. She may be 
 Empire, Kingdom, or Republic, it is all the same to us ; we 
 look back an hundred years through our grandfathers' spec- 
 tacles and see only, and seeing we love, "Our ancient and 
 brave ally, the Nation of France." 
 
 We remember Louis XVI., to whom we all owe so much, 
 and Rochambeau, D'Estaing, De Grasse, De Chastellux, Noailles, 
 De Lauzun, St. Simon, and all that long list of brave soldiers 
 and sailors of France who did so much to insure our country's 
 independence. 
 
 And kindlier and dearer than all is the memory of one 
 young, brave, and gallant French nobleman, who left rank, 
 wealth, and home, to place his sword at the disposal of Wash- 
 ington, and to risk his life and his honor in behalf of American 
 freedom. If France had done nothing more for us we should 
 still hold her in loving remembrance as the fatherland of the 
 gallant Marquis de Lafayette. 
 
 And hence is it, my friends, that the American people, and 
 especially we of the Order of the Cincinnati, hold in kindly 
 and grateful remembrance our ancient and brave ally, the 
 Nation of France, and especially those of that nationality who 
 are the descendants and representatives of the French soldiers 
 and sailors who aided our ancestors in the establishment of our 
 Republic. 
 
 Is this interest one-sided, do you ask— have the descendants 
 of the French officers who took part in our Revolution, and 
 
 39 
 
who were members of the Order of the Cincinnati, any active 
 interest in the America of to-day — any pride in the exploits of 
 their ancestors — any knowledge of and interest in this Order, 
 and any desire to claim the right of hereditary membership 
 therein ? 
 
 These questions are answered in part by the fact set forth 
 in the records of the last triennial meeting of the Society of the 
 Cincinnati in 1887, that a number of French gentlemen en- 
 titled to hereditary membership in the Society have formed a 
 provisional organization for the purpose of reviving the French 
 branch of the Society, with the Marquis de Rochambeau as 
 provisional President and the Vicomte de ISToailles as Secretary, 
 and have applied for and obtained recognition from the General 
 Society. They are answered in part by applications which have 
 been made by descendants of those French officers of a hundred 
 or more years ago, to be admitted as members of our Order, 
 through some of our State Societies, and to have thus restored 
 to them the heritage of their fathers. And some of us, too, 
 can bear personal testimony to the deep and strong interest 
 which some of these descendants take in our historic Order. 
 Speaking for myself, I can say that it has been my own 
 pleasure and privilege to meet many of them on terms of 
 friendship. I have visited at Havana the Marquis du Quesne, 
 a deputy in the Spanish Cortes, and a descendant of Rear- 
 Admiral the Marquis du Quesne, and have seen with what 
 pride and gratification he produced and wore the Order of the 
 Society of the Cincinnati, which had descended to him from his 
 grandfather. I have visited as an honored guest at the historic 
 Chateau Rochambeau, the home of the great Marshal of France 
 the Comte de Rochambeau, and in the bedchamber occupied by 
 him in his lifetime I have seen the most prominent feature, a 
 portrait of Washington, the first President General of this 
 Society, and side by side with the insignia of the Golden 
 Fleece and other decorations, and in a place of honor, I have 
 seen our own eagle — the Order of the Cincinnati — which had 
 been worn by the great Comte de Rochambeau more than a 
 century ago. 
 
 It has been my pleasure to meet that distinguished states - 
 
 40 
 
man and courtly gentleman the Duke and Prince de Broglie, 
 and to be assured by him of his pride at the part taken by his 
 grandfather, the Prince de Broglie, in the achievement of 
 American independence, and of his interest in the Society of 
 the Cincinnati, and his cordial and earnest desire to co-operate 
 in the movement for the re-establishment of the French Society 
 of the Order. 
 
 And from time to time, too, there comes to me friendly 
 reminders from Besangon, or from the mountains of the Vosges, 
 that the Comte d'Ollone, as the representative of Viomenil and 
 grandson of a gallant oflBcer of the Auxiliary Army, has an 
 abiding and enduring Interest in the welfare of the Society of 
 the Cincinnati. 
 
 And so, gentlemen, because of those French heroes of the 
 past, who were the firm friends of our Revolutionary sires, be- 
 cause of their descendants, who now, in friendly remembrance 
 of that past, send kindly greetings to us, because by the action 
 of the French nation in 1778, the independence of our country 
 was assured, I ask you to fill again your glasses, and to drink 
 once again to the toast of " Our ancient and brave ally, the 
 Nation of France." 
 
 41 
 
Eighth Toast. 
 
 ' The Battles of Trenton, Pbinceton, Monmotjth and Springfield, 
 attested the valor of the continental line." 
 
 «eBpon6e6 to bs IbOTl. JOblX dfttCb.' 
 
 31r. Chairman and Brethren of the Society : Sad and dark 
 were the prospects of the Colonies, on the eve preceding the bat- 
 tles of Trenton and Princeton. The brave Continentals march- 
 ing through New Jersey's frozen and snow covered fields, turned 
 upon Cornwallis at Trenton and Princeton, stayed the British 
 progress towards Philadelphia, checked the tide of success of 
 the English army, and enabled our Continental Line to go safely 
 into winter quarters. These victories gave the colonists their 
 first hope of success. They showed that the " Continental Line " 
 could successfully contend with England's best soldiers. They 
 cheered the drooping spirits of the Whigs, gained over to the Col- 
 onies the hesitating and doubtful, and crushed the hopes of the 
 Tories. Washington's success at Trenton and Princeton gave us 
 the friendship of France and Holland, and made Saratoga possi- 
 ble, and enabled the country to raise an army to meet and cap- 
 
 i Hon. John Fitch, of the New Jersey Society of Cmcinnati, died in the City of New York,. 
 September 1, 1880, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. 
 
 42 
 
ture Burgoyne. Our great victory at Saratoga gave us the 
 French aUiance, and had it not been for the arms and ammuni- 
 tion, and the navy which she sent us and of which we were so 
 sadly in need, we could not have succeeded. Had Washington 
 been defeated at Trenton and Princeton, there would have been 
 no Free and Independent United States, no Centennial, no Society 
 of the Cincinnati. We should not have been here to-night and 
 this land would not now be called the " United States." The 
 Colonies would have been crushed, governed by the bayonet, and 
 England would have taxed us to the limit of endurance. It was 
 the Continental Line that did the fighting ; it was Brigadier- 
 General Hugh Mercer's Brigade that made the attack and won 
 the victory at Princeton. The Brigade was composed of the 
 Fourth Connecticut, in these battles commanded by one of my 
 ancestors; the New Hampshire regiment under Stark, who after- 
 wards won at Bennington; and two Massachusetts regiments, 
 one commanded by Colonel Hutchinson, and the other by 
 Colonel Stone. The battles of Trenton and Princeton con- 
 stituted an epoch in the Revolution, the pivot upon which 
 success depended. They have never yet received due credit 
 for what they effected, and the effect has never as yet 
 been fairly or sufficiently chronicled, nor has it received the 
 attention it deserves. Neither has the bravery of the Con- 
 tinental Line on that occasion been sufficiently applauded 
 or appreciated. It was, and may be called, the first deci- 
 sive battle of the Revolution, and it certainly was a battle, 
 calling Trenton and Princeton one battle, of which a contrary 
 result — the defeat of Gen. Washington — would have essentially 
 changed the fate of the Colonies, and their subsequent careers 
 would have been entirely varied in the drama of the world. 
 Historians say that among the fifteen decisive battles of the 
 world, Saratoga was one of them. Now, I claim that Trenton 
 and Princeton should have been named as well as or perhaps in- 
 stead of Saratoga, because had we been defeated at Trenton and 
 Princeton, the Colonies would have been crushed ; we could not 
 have raised an army with which to have won Saratoga, and 
 there would have been no United States. If Washington had 
 been defeated at Trenton, Cornwallis would have followed up 
 
 43 
 
his success, received large reinforcements from New York, and 
 followed Washington's army untU it was captured or scattered, 
 and that would have closed the scene. Again, the Continentals 
 at Monmouth drove England's best soldiers from the battle-field, 
 forcing them to seek safety under the guns of the British fleet, 
 then anchored in the Lower Bay. Our victories at Saratoga and 
 Monmouth gave us the aid of France with an army and a fleet 
 of more than thirty sail, by the aid of which we captured Corn- 
 wallis with his army and the fleet at Yorktown, which ended the 
 Revolution and established our Independence. Thus it was that 
 the bravery of the Continental Line gave us our Independence and 
 enabled Liberty to be proclaimed throughout the land. Thus to 
 the battles fought by the Continentals on New Jersey's blood- 
 stained soil we are indebted for what we are to-day. God bless 
 France, old New Jersey, and the Continental Line ! This is 
 not all we have to thank them and her for. But for them we 
 should not have been a nation, and there would not have been a 
 Government Uke ours, " of the people, by the people, and for the 
 people," and the mighty "West would have been a howling wil- 
 derness, probably not settled beyond the Mississippi River at this 
 time, and the religion of the Saviour, commencing at Jerusalem, 
 following the sun in its westerly course around the world, would 
 not as yet have crossed this continent and found its way as it 
 has nearly done across Asia around to Jerusalem, thus nearly 
 fulfilling the commands of the Saviour to His disciples : " Go 
 ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, so 
 I am with you always, even unto the ends of the world." I be- 
 lieve it was the will of God and His design to spread the religion 
 of the Saviour by way of Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth 
 across this continent to Asia, and through Asia to Jerusalem, 
 and that the Continental Line for that purpose took the place of 
 His disciples, and let us all say : 
 
 God Bless Old New Jersey and the Continental Line. 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Fitch's response, the Chairman 
 called upon the Rev. Dr. Samuel Moore Shute to respond to 
 the same toast. 
 
 44 
 
a&Sitional response to Eigbtb 'Soast, bs tbe 
 
 IRev. Samuel /iDoore Sbute, S). 2). 
 
 2Ir. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Cincinnati : I presume 
 that I but put into words the one common sentiment that 
 throbs in your souls to-night, when I say that this imposing 
 social assemblage, and the interesting exercises connected 
 with it, are a most fitting prelude to the august ceremonies 
 about to be inaugurated in this great metropohs of the nation. 
 The Man, the Society, the Constitution! What more stimu- 
 lating and ennobling themes could be presented for the con- 
 sideration of an assemblage, the members of which are the sons 
 of those sires of the heroic age of the Republic, who pledged 
 their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, that they 
 would unfalteringly aid the Man in his arduous efforts to 
 achieve our independence; who, having nobly redeemed their 
 pledges to secure it, formed the Society, whose one supreme 
 aim should be to tenderly care for the widows and orphans 
 of those brother officers who laid down their lives on the bloody 
 field of strife, and also to cultivate through the faithful Uves 
 of their sons, during all the after generations, an unwavering 
 loyalty to the institutions, the foundations of which they them- 
 selves had patiently laid in the expenditure of so much toil 
 and blood ; and who, moreover, aided by Divine guidance, 
 put into our incomparable written Constitution those wise 
 provisions, which, by their careful and conscientious adminis- 
 tration, have made us one of the most enlightened, useful, 
 and powerful of the nations. A theme as inspiring as ever 
 poet wove into immortal verse, or painter ever wrought in 
 living colors on canvas. 
 
 The Man, by world-wide consent, the foremost among men 
 throughout all the annals of human history ! The Society, 
 unique in its origin, unsurpassed in the admirable virtues of 
 its founders, and eminent for the honors conferred upon it 
 in lands beyond the sea, as well as in its native home ! A 
 Constitution, so strong, that it has survived the titanic 
 shocks of the most terrific civil war that ever devastated the 
 
 45 
 
fair fields of earth; and so elastic that it adapts itself as readily 
 to a domain stretching from ocean to ocean, as it did to the 
 original narrow Atlantic strip of coast with its thirteen colonies; 
 and as completely meeting the multiplied wants of sixty-five 
 millions of people as it did those of three milhons ! 
 
 In aiding the Man, in organizing the Society, in elaborat- 
 ing the Constitution, New Jersey contributed her share, and 
 with a heartiness, a persistency, and a success, which won the 
 admiration of her sister colonies. Upon her soil some of the 
 most briUiant military movements and achievements of the 
 war were accomplished; and Trenton, Princeton and Mon- 
 mouth have not only made the soil of New Jersey sacred to 
 her sons, but have rendered perpetually lustrous the military 
 genius of the great Leader of the Revolution. 
 
 May this be, pre-eminently, the occasion on which the hal- 
 lowed memories associated with the great deeds of our fathers 
 shall be strengthened and brightened; and may these memories 
 be the means, not only of prompting us, their sons, to esteem 
 more highly the priceless civil and religious privileges which 
 they secured for us, but also of stimulating us to imitate the 
 virtues which have made their names and deeds immortal in 
 the enduring records of this great Republic. 
 
 46 
 
■Miii.^^ 
 
 Ninth Toast. 
 
 "The Armt and Navy op the United States." 
 
 + 
 
 IResponfieb to it 
 
 Urevet /lDa|or»0eneral Hlejanber Stewart Webb, %%. D., 
 
 (late tlnftcS States HtmB,) 
 
 preslDent of tbe CoUcge of tbc Citg of mew Uoth. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Brethren : It is probably expected that in 
 answer to such a toast it will devolve upon me to speak of the 
 record made by both arms of the service, from the time of Paul 
 Jones and "Washington to the days of Farragut and Grant ; to 
 express, as is usual, our sympathy for those who rendered hard 
 service, either on stormy ocean or western desert, and to pledge 
 our firm support to these two arms, which are to-day more than 
 ever the pride of the whole nation. But the words spoken here 
 already, the enthusiasm shown by the representatives of all the 
 States of the Union present here to-night, whenever the reunion 
 of the States has been alluded to ; the truthful but extraordinary 
 recounting of the services of members of the Society of the Cin- 
 
 47 
 
cinnati in drafting the Constitution of our country and in secur- 
 ing its adoption by the legislatures of the several States, have 
 all tended to force me to change entirely the historical character 
 of the response I was about to make, and to call your attention 
 to one view of the services of the army and navy which presents 
 itself to me to-night. As we look upon these two arms of the 
 service, originally composed of representatives of all the States, 
 brought up at two academies under the direction of the United 
 States Government, taught to love and respect but one national 
 flag — in their very hearts forced to believe that in the service 
 they belonged to the whole nation, and not to particular States 
 — we see that there was engendered in them a spirit of patriot- 
 ism which I believe was never obliterated from their hearts. 
 
 Think of it for one moment — what gave Grant his grand 
 spirit of generosity exhibited at Appomattox Court House ? 
 What made the officers of the opposing army accept at once the 
 inevitable consequences of their defeat ? It was but a return on 
 the part of all to the teaching they had received when young. 
 Anger had passed away in a great measure ; respect for our 
 adversaries had taken the place of bitter hostility, and a desire to 
 see once more the whole Union restored was predominant in 
 the hearts of the officers who had been in the regular army. 
 Seeing their leaders bearing themselves in this attitude toward 
 one another, what was the natural effect upon the men of the 
 two opposed armies ? It was to produce in the heart of every 
 one of them a feeling in favor of reconstruction — to follow in 
 peace the example of the very men who had been their leaders 
 in war ; and while the world looked on and wondered, through 
 the active energy and efforts of these officers of the army and 
 navy, who until 1861 had served together as brothers, the whole 
 Southern section made strenuous efforts to prove that dis- 
 union was an impossibility, and a divided country a blot upon 
 the face of the earth. 
 
 Now, in speaking of the army and navy, I ask you hereafter 
 to recall that they contain the graduates from the two public 
 institutions selected from all parts of the Union ; that each 
 and every officer is a patriot through habit and education ; that 
 the more intelligent and better informed from both sections of 
 
 48 
 
the country are the most eager to prove that the old flag never 
 was other than dear to the hearts of all ; that it will ever be 
 floating over a united country ; 'and that as agents for the pre- 
 servation of the Union^and'Liberty, no two bodies of men stand 
 more prominently before the hearts of our people, or are more 
 capable of loyalty to the people, to the government, and to the 
 flag of the country. 
 
 4» 
 
Tenth Toast. 
 
 "The Tammajtt Soceett.' 
 
 TReaponirt to it /iDr. CbHtles Bcatt^ Hlejan&er. 
 
 3Ir. Chairman and Brethren : The unavoidable and unin- 
 tended absence this evening of one of our members, General 
 John Cochrane, a Sachem of Tammany, is, undoubtedly, the 
 reason why you have placed on me the duty of responding to 
 this toast. 
 
 In 1793, when this toast was announced at the annual Fourth 
 of July banquet of the New York Society of the Cincinnati,' it 
 was much easier adequately to reply to it than now, because the 
 Tammany Society had not then taken on, in the estimation of 
 the community, that political character which she has since 
 sustained. 
 
 Although a number of members of the Society of the Cincin- 
 nati were among the founders and promoters, in 1789, of the 
 Tammany Society, the popular impression has generally been 
 that it was founded in opposition to our Order and to repress its 
 supposed aristocratic tendencies. 
 
 The Society of the Cincinnati had been constituted from 
 among the commissioned oflBcers — the gentlemen — of the Con- 
 
 1 As early as the '22d February, 1791, ou the occasion of the celebration of Washington's Birthday 
 by the New York State Society of the Cincinnati and by the Tammany Society, mutual congratula- 
 tions were exchanged between the two organizations. 
 
 .'■.0 
 
tinental Army of the Revolution, and excluded civilians and 
 those who had borne arms against the American cause. 
 
 The Tammany Society was less exclusive, and membership 
 was easily acquired by those who were willing to promote its 
 objects. 
 
 Under the astute management of Colonel Aaron Burr, one of 
 the original members of the Cincinnati, the Tanunany Society 
 was gradually moulded into a political organization of great 
 effective force in political conflicts. 
 
 The personal and political rivalries between General Alex- 
 ander Hamilton, of the New York Society of the Cincinnati, 
 representative of the Federal party, to which Washington, 
 Adams, and the great majority of the Continental officers 
 belonged, and Colonel Burr, the acknowledged leader in New 
 York of the Republican, or Democratic, party of those days — a 
 rivalry only terminated on the green sward of Weehawken — 
 probably has occasioned the idea to which I have referred, that 
 one of the objects of the founding of the Tammany Society was 
 to oppose our own Order. 
 
 The diligent student of history, however, knows that, after 
 the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, the politi- 
 cal work of the Cincinnati was accomplished before the Tammany 
 Society was founded. 
 
 Political discussions have no place in our meetings, therefore 
 I shall not sketch the career of the Tammany Society to the 
 present day, because its history is one of politics and of political 
 combinations. 
 
 The Tammany Society has had a varied and checkered career ; 
 but I think this can be said of it, however, that at no time in its 
 history has it ever been without a body of patriotic, earnest and 
 honest men, and to-day it stands, for the time being, as the chief 
 and controlling political power in the city of New York. 
 
 I thank you most cordially, on behalf of the Tammany Society, 
 for proposing this time-honored and historic toast, and express 
 to you its cordial welcome to the city of New York. 
 
 51 
 
Eleventh Toast. 
 
 "The President General and tece Members op the Cincinnati through- 
 out THE World." 
 
 tResponbeb to b's 
 
 Ubc Ibon. Millfam Bennfng Mebb, 
 ptestCtent of tbe CommlBsfonere of tbe Sistrict of Columbia. 
 
 Mr. Chairman : I feel highly honored by being assigned the 
 duty of responding to the sentiment just announced, but at the 
 same time I must apologize for my inability to do it justice, and 
 my entire want of preparation to say anything fitting a theme 
 of so grave importance. What I say will be the utterance of my 
 heartfelt admiration for the gentleman who has so long and so 
 acceptably filled the office of President General of our Society, 
 and my sincerity must make amends for whatever of feebleness 
 may be exhibited in what I attempt to say. One of the first 
 duties I was called on to perform as a member of the Maryland 
 State Society of the Cincinnati was that of delegate to the Tri- 
 ennial Convention that met at Princeton in the summer of 1884. 
 At that meeting our venerable President presided, and his dig- 
 nity, gentleness, and unfailing fairness won the admiration of 
 all who attended that memorable convention. It was my privi- 
 
 62 
 
lege at that meeting to cast my vote for the re-election of the 
 Hon. Hamilton Fish to the high office, the duties of which he 
 had theretofore performed with such distinguished ability. 
 None of us who were present on that occasion can forget the 
 fitting, sad and tender speech with which this noble gentleman 
 accepted the honor conferred upon him. In language so pathetic, 
 that every man of us felt tears of sympathy welling to our eyes, 
 he spoke of his advancing years, warning him as they did 
 that he might not Uve out the term for which he was elected. 
 He thanked us for the honor we did him as the greatest ever 
 conferred upon him, because it placed him in the seat held by 
 Washington, Hamilton, Pinckney, Morgan Lewis, and others 
 equally distinguished, and with something of a protest against 
 his continuance in the office, when so many younger men might 
 have been chosen, he accepted. 
 
 Again, in 1887, I was honored by being selected as a delegate 
 to represent the Maryland Society, and it was my good fortune 
 to attend the convention that met at Newport that year. Here 
 the sad announcement was made that the infirmities of accumu- 
 lating years made the presence of our President General impos- 
 sible, and with the announcement that he could no longer be a 
 candidate for the presidency, the venerable gentleman urged us 
 to give our ballots for some other and younger man. There 
 was but one sentiment, however, among the delegates to that 
 convention, and again I had the honor and the gratification of 
 casting my ballot for that noble man who now fills the place of 
 President General of our Society. His absence from our ban- 
 quet to-night warns us that his infirmities have not lessened, 
 that while with us in spirit his actions are hampered by the 
 weakness of age. The State of Maryland has again honored 
 me with her choice, and, if nothing prevents, I hope to attend 
 the coming triennial convention of this Society at Baltimore in 
 1890. It is the sincerest wish of my heart that again I may be 
 enabled to cast my ballot for the election of our most honorable 
 and distinguished President General, and that he will feel him- 
 self able not only to accept, but to hold and fulfil the duties of 
 that high office for many years to come. The office is a lofty 
 one, and with it comes great dignity and honor. Aside from its 
 
associations, aside from the fact that such men as Washington, 
 Hamilton, Pinckney and Lewis have filled it, it is the highest 
 place in an association constituted to keep alive in our country 
 those exalted feelings of patriotism and that devotion to the 
 principles that underlie our institutions, so characteristic of the 
 great men who gained our liberties and framed our Constitution. 
 Our President General has held high positions in the councils of 
 our country, he has been the representative of a great State in 
 our country's Senate and has sat at its cabinet councils, he has 
 won distinction for himself and has done faithful service to the 
 country, but nowhere has he won more honor, nowhere has he 
 more fully emphasized his devotion to his country and the prin- 
 ciples of its government than in the position he now holds as the 
 President General of the Society of the Cincinnati. In every- 
 thing that he has done he has manifested his devotion to the 
 cause of true liberty and the principles embraced within the 
 inslitute of that Society, and I know I but echo the feelings of 
 all who hear me to-night when I wish for this venerable man a 
 long continuance of his noble and honorable career. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, ours is no ordinary association united in 
 the cause of simple benevolence or charity. We date back 
 to the earliest days of our history as a people, and we stand 
 pledged in no common way to keep the faith left us by our 
 ancestors. Those glorious heroes, after a bloody conflict of 
 eight years, fresh from vicissitudes, trials, dangers, cares and 
 sorrows that tested their valor and proved their patriotism, 
 having won the freedom of the colonies— united themselves 
 in the association to " perpetuate as weU the remembrance of 
 that vast event, as the mutual friendships which were formed 
 under the pressure of common dangers and in many instances 
 cemented by the blood of the parties. " This is the great duty 
 set us to do. We are bound by the same faith that controlled 
 our ancestors, we are to keep alive not only the love of our 
 country and its institutions inherited from our fathers, but by 
 the very heritable character of our membership we are to 
 perpetuate the friendships engendered among them by the 
 dangers through which they braved their way to ultimate vic- 
 tory. Wherever we are, in whatever land, under whatever 
 
 54 
 
circumstances placed, we meet as members of this Society, a& 
 friends bound by an inherited bond, that should strengthen as 
 the years roll by. Time can never efface, nay, it can never 
 dim the memory of the glorious deeds of those sires of whom 
 we are so justly proud ; it should never weaken if we are 
 true men, that friendship for their comrades bequeathed to 
 us so solemnly in the Preamble of our Institute. I feel proud 
 to-night as I look around me at the representatives of the 
 Revolutionary heroes now met to do honor to this grand centen- 
 nial of our country. We rejoice together as no people ever 
 rejoiced before over the fruits of our past, and while we shed 
 a tear over the sad events that marked the early dawn of our 
 liberties, we glory in the glad splendor of our country's noon- 
 day. Let us again and again as we meet together renew this 
 pledge of perpetual friendship, and let it be the proudest 
 record we can leave behind us to those who are to inherit our 
 membership that we have ever and always preserved unbroken 
 the pledge of friendliness to our fellow members. And now, 
 as we pledge ourselves in this sentiment to which I have 
 attempted to respond, let us remember in all kindness and 
 with a friendship that knows no selfish taint, the members of 
 the Society of the Cincinnati, wherever they may be. 
 
 65 
 
Twelfth Toast. 
 
 "The Origihai, Societt op the Cincinnati — the foelorn hope in estab- 
 lishing THE independence OP THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 
 
 "By THEIR EXAMPLE MAY THEIR SUCCESSORS LABOR TO PRESERVE AND PER- 
 PETUATE THE LIBERTIES THAT THEIR PATRIOTISM ACQUIRED." 
 
 •KcBponBcs to b« ^ajor C5rant XKIle(5man. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Society of the Cincin- 
 nati: The toast to which I have been called upon to respond 
 is most worthy of being remembered. First proposed by Gen- 
 eral Burbeck, an original member of the Society, at a meeting 
 of the Massachusetts Society on the 4th of July, 1848, it must 
 be peculiarly gratifying to his worthy son and successor, who 
 is with us this evening, to hear it recalled on this occasion, 
 and its sentiment will meet with a hearty response from every 
 member of the Cincinnati. 
 
 As citizens of the United States of to-day, it is, perhaps, 
 difficult for us to fully understand and appreciate the situation 
 of the original members of this Society of the Cincinnati at 
 the time, and the circumstances under which the Society was 
 instituted. We are all familiar with the history of the events 
 
 56 
 
which preceded and led to its estabhshment, and it is unnec- 
 essary, therefore, to recount them now. Societies have been 
 instituted and orders estabUshed to commemorate the power 
 of kings and princes, and the deeds done in wars undertaken 
 for conquest and Uke motives ; but the Society of the Cincin- 
 nati was instituted for a nobler and better purpose. 
 
 Those who founded our Society had just passed through a 
 long and bloody war, and during its progress had suffered 
 hardships and privations untold, not for the sake of glory or 
 personal advantage, but in the cause of civil and reUgious lib- 
 erty, in defence of the rights of the people — the liberty of the 
 citizen. They entered upon the contest with no thought of 
 conquest. Pledging their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
 honors, they joined together in the great struggle which estab- 
 lished the independence of the United States of America from 
 love of their country and devotion to liberty. Their work was 
 ended ; the independence of their country had been secured ; 
 the result which moved them to enter upon that long and 
 bloody struggle which had just ended had been attained. 
 They were ready to return to the avocations of civil life; to 
 lay down their arms and resume their places among the 
 citizens of the Republic they had founded. 
 
 At this time and under these circumstances the Society of 
 the Cincinnati was instituted, in order that the principles for 
 which its original members had battled might be ever fresh 
 in memory, and that patriotism and love of liberty might 
 always be honored among the citizens of the Eepubhc. It is 
 the proud boast of this Society that it was established, not to 
 celebrate deeds in wars for glory or conquest, not to do honor 
 to kings or princes, but to commemorate the triumph of civil 
 and religious liberty, of freedom and independence, of the 
 rights of man. 
 
 When we recall the condition of the thirteen colonies after 
 the struggle for independence had so gloriously closed, and 
 contemplate the greatness and power of the United States of 
 to-day, may we not feel proud that we have descended from 
 those noble patriots who were the original members of the 
 Society of the Cincinnati ? May the memory of their heroic 
 
 67 
 
deeds ever be fresh in our minds ; may their example ever 
 serve to nerve us to emulate them in their patriotic devotion 
 to Uberty and the rights of the people. They established the 
 Independence of the United States of America ; may we always 
 remember that it is our duty to " preserve and perpetuate the 
 liberties that their patriotism acquired." 
 
 68 
 
Thirteenth Toast. 
 
 ■"Perpetual peace and happiness to the United States of America. 
 
 ■Responteb to b^ Hbt. Davtb Greene Ibasftlns, Jr. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Brothers of the Cincinnati : "We are all 
 looking backward this evening, and thinking with pride and 
 gratitude of the wonderful growth and success of our beloved 
 country in its first century of Federal union. I wonder if any 
 one of us has tried to put himself in the place of Washington, 
 and, standing in imagination where he stood at the close of the 
 Revolution, to look, as he must have done, into the then un- 
 known future. 
 
 Of course, we all know something of the weak, helpless, and 
 disorganized condition of our infant republic before the adoption 
 of the Constitution ; but I think it is very diflScult for us to-day 
 to reahze, to its fuU extent, the alarming and discouraging situ- 
 ation at that time. 
 
 A few impoverished States on the Atlantic coast, hemmed in 
 by the vast territories of England, France and Spain; bound 
 loosely together by a confederation that was every day losing its 
 hold; a Congress powerless to compel the obedience of the States, 
 and almost without influence to persuade them ; a treasury so 
 
 59 
 
low that the necessary expenses of the government could only 
 be met by drawing on our foreign ministers ; a government too 
 feeble to protect its citizens, even from the pirates of the Bar- 
 bary States, and too poor to buy immunity from their ravages ; 
 unable to check the alarming disagreements between certain 
 States that threatened resort to physical force ; helpless at home 
 and without influence abroad— this was the gloomy picture that 
 Washington saw. 
 
 And, standing on the threshold of our national life, he may 
 well have asked himself whether the Revolution had not, after 
 all, been a failure ; and the hope with which he gazed into the 
 future must have been mingled with grave doubt and appre- 
 hension. 
 
 It is pleasant to think how his noble soul would thrill with 
 gratitude and joy if he could stand, to-night, in this gathering 
 of his beloved Society, and view with us the wonders of the 
 present, far beyond his most sanguine dreams. 
 
 And now, to-night, we, on our part, may well cast our eyes 
 forward, and try to forecast the future, and to peer into the 
 obscurity that envelops the second century. And I believe we 
 may do so with firm hope, trusting to the continued protection 
 and guidance of that Divine Providence which has so signally 
 blessed us in the past. Of course, our age has its own peculiar 
 faults and dangers : there is much in public and in private life 
 to censure, and we sometimes look back with longing to the 
 "good old times." But, after all, I beUeve we idealize the past, 
 and there reaUy never were any good old times. The world is 
 growing better, manners and morals are improving, the old 
 patriotic flame burns as brightly as ever, and the heroes of 
 Bunker Hill and Valley Forge were not a whit superior in cour- 
 age or devotion to the men of the civil war. We have abuses 
 enough to overthrow, reforms to accomplish, dangers and evil 
 tendencies to contend against ; but, in spite of them all, the 
 second century opens far more hopefully than did the first, and 
 the imagination is baffled and bewildered in trying to picture its 
 possible magnificent developments. 
 
 And we may also hope for a long and prosperous life for our 
 honored Society. That, too, has had its day of discouragement, 
 
 60 
 
when, in some few quarters, interest flagged and State Societies 
 were dissolved or died out, from the dispersion of their members 
 to remote localities. But to-day the Society is cherished and 
 honored, and is steadily growing in strength ; only we must be 
 careful to guard the "Institution" as its founders created it, keep- 
 ing asjnear, as the changed conditions will admit, to the spirit 
 and purpose that animated them ; and we must, above all else 
 and under all circumstances, cherish that spirit of brotherly 
 love, the perpetuity of which was the main object of the Society, 
 and without which we cannot desire it to endure. 
 
 And so, inspired by the memories that this season brings, 
 may we, Cincinnati, set our faces to the future, and, as we 
 repeat the pious wish of the immortal Washington, may we, 
 each in his sphere, however humble, labor as we can to 
 promote the "peace and happiness of the United States of 
 America." 
 
 61. 
 
The 
 
 Commemorative Services 
 
 of 
 
 The Cincinnati, 
 
 in 
 
 Saint Paul's Chapel, 
 
 April 28, 1889. 
 
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 The Commemorative Services. 
 
 '■'ri'SStSi; 
 
 HE Commemorative Services of the Cincinnati 
 were held in Saint Paul's Chapel,' on Broadway, 
 in the city of New York, on April 28, 1889, the 
 use of the chapel for this purpose having been 
 granted by the Reverend Morgan Dix, D.D., 
 D.C.L., Rector, and the Wardens and Vestry of 
 Trinity Parish. 
 
 The Form of Service used was specially authorized for the 
 occasion by the Diocesan, the Right Reverend Henry Codman 
 Potter, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of New York, and was substantially 
 that used by the Right Reverend Samuel Provoost, D.D., Bishop 
 of New York, in Saint Paul's Chapel, for the service attended by 
 President General Washington, on his inauguration as President 
 of the United States, April 30, 1789. 
 
 1 The Cincinnati frequently held commemorative services in Saint Paul's Chapel in the last century,, 
 notably on July 4, 1788, when the New York Society proceeded thither under escort of a brigade of 
 militia to hear their annual oration by the Honorable William Duer. 
 
 In the following year, 4th July, 1789, under escort of a regiment of State artillery, the New York 
 Society again went to Saint Paul's Chapel, where were assembled, by their invitation, the Vice-Presi- 
 dent and Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, to hear Brevet Colonel 
 Alexander Hamilton's masterly oration on the life and services of Major-General Nathanael Greene. 
 President General Washington could not be present, on account of sickness, but his family were 
 there. However, on the 5th July, 1790, when the New York Society of Cincinnati proceeded to Saint 
 Paul's Chapel, under escort of the same regiment of State artillery, to listen to their annual oration 
 by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Brockholst Livingston, one of their own members, President (General 
 Washington also attended, and Vice-President John Adams and the Senate and House of Represent- 
 atives of the United States, and many strangers of distinction, were present by invitation. 
 
 These are a few instances among a number which give Saint Paul's Chapel a pecuhar place in the 
 regard of the Order of the Cincinnati. 
 
 A number of the original members are buried in its churchyard, and, altogether, its connection 
 with the Cincinnati has been such as ahnost to make it the chapel of the Order. 
 
 6.-; 
 
The chapel was appropriately and beautifully decorated for 
 the occasion, under the superintendence of Colonel Richard T. 
 Auchmuty, of the Vestry. On either side of the chancel were 
 placed a stand of National colors, whose folds, on their pikes, 
 reached to the floor. 
 
 They framed an eflfective display of flowers, which banked 
 the altar and extended as high as the chancel window. 
 
 In the centre were two clusters of American Beauty roses in 
 full bloom. Rising from them, on either side, were masses of 
 white flowers, consisting of hydi-angeas, roses, tuft, lilies-of-the- 
 valley and hyacinths. 
 
 Then came ferns, tall standing plants and palms, which filled 
 the space to the flags at the sides. 
 
 A National flag was draped at the top of each column sup- 
 porting the gallery, the drapery being held in place, in each 
 instance, by a small gilt eagle. 
 
 From the centre of the Choir gallery, two silken colors — the 
 American flag of the Revolution, with thirteen stars on the blue 
 field, and the Royal Standard of France in 1773-1783 (the white 
 flag with the fleur-de-lis) — were displayed, their crossed pikes 
 being held in place by a gilt eagle. 
 
 Each of the windows was decorated with palms and flowers, 
 and each chandelier was trimmed with smilax and flowers. 
 
 Entrance to the chapel was by the west doors, facing Church 
 street. 
 
 Over this entrance hung two National flags, the staffs of 
 which were attached to the spire at the places where they were 
 attached on Inauguration Day a hundred years before. 
 
 The porch at this entrance was shielded by striped canvas 
 walls, within which were set palms and climbing vines, forming 
 a framework of bright green. 
 
 The choir consisted of a double quartet and a well-drilled 
 chorus. 
 
 By invitation of the Executive Committee, a large delegation 
 of the Society of the " Sons of the Revolution," with their Presi- 
 dent, the Honorable Frederick Samuel Tallmadge, and a large 
 66 
 
representation of the "New York Commandery of the MiKtary 
 Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States," including many 
 distinguished oflBcers of the regular army and late United States 
 Volunteer Service, attended, and were given reserved seats. 
 
 The front pews in the middle aisle were reserved for the 
 Cincinnati. 
 
 The gentlemen who acted as ushers in seating the large and 
 highly appreciative congregation, which filled the chapel to its 
 utmost capacity, were Messrs. George Norman Gardiner, Latham 
 G. Reed, George Gardiner Fry, Henry Russell Drowne, Henry 
 Marion Ward, Clermont L. Clarkson, D. Augustus Clarkson, and 
 Nathanael Greene, Jr., each of whom were descendants of Con- 
 tinental officers of the Revolution. 
 
 The Cincinnati assembled in the Parish House on Church 
 street, corner of Vesey street, wearing the eagles of their order, 
 and, at 10.30 o'clock, a.m., formed two by two, and, preceded' by 
 the Secretary General, Presidents of State Societies and Assistant 
 Treasurer General, in order of precedence, marched in a body 
 through the churchyard to their seats in the chapel. 
 
 The choir then sang hymn 309, " God Bless our Native Land," 
 as a processional, during which the officiating clergy appeared at 
 the main entrance and proceeded to their places in the chancel. 
 
 The services were conducted by the Right Reverend William 
 Stevens Perry, D.D. (Oxon.), LL.D., D.C.L., Bishop of Iowa (who 
 preached the sermon), and by the Reverend Charles Cotesworth 
 Pinckney, D. D. , Chaplains General of the Order of the Cincin- 
 nati, assisted by the Reverend James Mulchahey, D.D., minister 
 in charge of Saint Paul's Chapel, and his assistants, the Reverend 
 William Augustus Holbrook and the Reverend William Mon- 
 tague Geer. 
 
 Reverend Doctor Pinckney acted as Gospeler ; the Reverend 
 Doctor Mulchahey, as Epistler ; and Mr. Holbrook, lesson. 
 
 The Te Deum Laudamus was R. P. Stewart's, in E flat, for 
 double chorus. 
 
 1 The President General was unable, for reasons before stated, to attend. 
 
 The Vice-President General was abroad as Envoy Extraordinary and 31inister Plenipotentiary of 
 the United States at Paris. 
 
 67 
 
At the Introit, the choir sang the three closing numbers of 
 Handel's oratorio of " Belshazzar : " "Tell it Out among the 
 Nations ; " " Yes, I wiU Build Thy City ; " " I wiU Magnify Thee, 
 O God, my King." 
 
 For the offertory. Sir John Stainer's duet, for soprano and 
 tenor, "Love Divine, all Love Excelling," was sung. 
 
 Form of Service. 
 
 The following was the form of service used on this occasion : 
 
 IT The Minister shall begin the Service by reading the following Sentences of Scripture : 
 
 T^HE Lord has been mindful of us, and He shall bless us ; He shall bless 
 them that fear the Lord, both small and great. — Ps. cxv. : 12, 13. 
 
 O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare 
 the wonders that he doeth for the children of men. — Ps. cvii. : 21. 
 
 Minister. Let us pray. 
 
 IT Tien shall the Minister and people say, all kneeling : 
 
 (~\UR Father, Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name ; Thy Kingdom 
 come ; Thy will be done on Earth, As it is in Heaven ; Give us this day 
 our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who 
 trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from 
 evil ; For Thine is the Kingdom, And the Power, And the Glory, Forever 
 and ever. Amen. 
 
 IT Tien likewise he shall say : 
 
 O Lord, open Thou our lips. 
 
 Answer. And our mouth shall show forth Thy praise. 
 Mi'n. O God, make speed to save us. 
 Ans. O Lord, make haste to help us. 
 68 
 
U Here, all standing up, the Minister shall say : 
 
 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost ; 
 Ans. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world with- 
 out end. Amen. 
 
 Mm. Praise ye the Lord. 
 
 Ans. The Lord's Name be praised. 
 
 H Then shall be sung the following Anthem : 
 
 Misericordias Domini. 
 
 IVT Y Song shall be alway of the loving-kindness of the Lord : with my 
 Mouth will I ever be showing Thy Truth from one generation to 
 another. — Ps. Ixxxix. : i. 
 
 The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done His marvellous Works : 
 that they ought to be had in remembrance — Ps. cxi. : 4. 
 
 Who can express the noble Acts of the Lord ; or show forth all His 
 praise? — Ps. cxi., 2. 
 
 The Works of the Lord are great ; sought out of all them that have 
 pleasure therein. — Pj. cxi. : 2. 
 
 He hath not dealt with us after our sins : nor rewarded us according to 
 our wickednesses. 
 
 For look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth : so great 
 is his mercy also toward them that fear him. — Ps. ciii. : 10, 11. 
 
 Glory be to the Father, etc. 
 
 H Then shall be said or sung Psalm cxviii. 
 
 V Then shall be read the Lesson, Deut. viii. 
 
 U Then shall be sung the Te Deura. 
 
 IT Then shall he said the Apostles^ Creed : 
 
 T BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And 
 in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy 
 Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was cruci- 
 fied, dead, and buried, He descended into hell ; The third day He rose 
 again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right 
 hand of God the Father Almighty ; From thence He shall come to judge the 
 quick and the dead. 
 
 I believe in the Holy Ghost ; the Holy Catholic Church ; The Com- 
 munion of Saints ; the Forgiveness of sins ; The Resurrection of the body. 
 And the Life everlasting. Amen. 
 
 69 
 
II And after that, these Prayers following, all devoutly kneeling; the Minister first pro- ■ 
 nouncing : 
 
 The Lord be with you : 
 
 Ans. And with thy spirit. 
 
 Min. Let us pray. 
 
 O Lord, show Thy mercy upon us ; 
 
 Ans. And grant us Thy salvation. 
 
 Min. O Lord, bless and preserve these United States ; 
 
 Ans. And mercifully hear us when we call upon Thee, 
 
 Min. Endue Thy ministers with righteousness ; 
 
 Ans. And make Thy chosen people joyful. 
 
 Min. O God, make clean our hearts within us ; 
 
 Ans. And take not Thy Holy Spirit from us. 
 
 The Collect for the Day. 
 
 A LMIGHTY God, Who hast in all ages showed forth Thy power and 
 mercy in the preservation of Thy Church, and in the protection of all 
 who put their sure trust in Thee ; Grant that the people of this land, which 
 Thou hast so blessed, may show forth their thanks and praise for Thy mer- 
 cies, by loving obedience to Thy laws ; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 Amen. 
 
 A Collect for Peace. 
 
 Q GOD, Who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge 
 of Whom standeth our eternal life, Whose service is perfect freedom ; 
 Defend us. Thy humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies ; that we, 
 surely trusting in Thy defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries ; 
 Through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 A Collect for Grace. 
 
 Q LORD our Heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, Who hast 
 safely brought us to the beginning of this day ; Defend us in the same 
 with Thy mighty power ; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither 
 run into any kind of danger ; but that all our doings may, by Thy govern- 
 ance, be righteous in Thy sight ; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 A Prayer for our Civil Rulers. 
 
 (~\ LORD our Heavenly Father, the high and mighty ruler of the Universe, 
 Who dost from Thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth ; Most 
 heartily we beseech Thee with Thy favor to behold The President, and all 
 in authority, executive, legislative, and judicial, in these United States ; And 
 so replenish them with the grace of Thy Holy Spirit, that they may always 
 incline to Thy will, and walk in Thy way. Endue them plenteously with 
 heavenly gifts ; grant them in health and wealth long to live ; and finally, 
 afler this life, to attain everlasting joy and felicity ; Through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen. 
 70 
 
A Special Thanksgiving. 
 
 o 
 
 GOD, Whose Name is excellent in all the earth, and Whose glory is 
 above the heavens, and Who didst, as on this day, inspire and direct the 
 hearts of our forefathers in laying the strong foundations of peace, liberty, 
 and safety for our nation ; we bless and adore Thy glorious Majesty for this 
 Thy loving kindness towards us. And we humbly pray that the devout 
 sense of Thy signal mercies to our land may renew and increase in us a 
 spirit of love and thankfulness to Thee, the Author of all good, and a spirit 
 of true devotion to the welfare of our country. May we so improve Thine 
 inestimable blessings, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion 
 and piety may be established among us for all generations. This we beg 
 through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. 
 
 A General Thanksgiving. 
 
 A LMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, we. Thine unworthy servants, do 
 give Thee most humble and hearty thanks for all Thy goodness and 
 loving kindness to us, and to all men. We bless Thee for our creation, 
 preservation and all the blessings of this life ; but above all, for Thine ines- 
 timable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ ; for 
 the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech Thee, 
 give us that due sense of all Thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeign- 
 edly thankful, and that we may show forth Thy praise, not only with our 
 lips, but in our lives ; by giving up ourselves to Thy service, and by walking 
 before Thee in holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord, to Whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and 
 glory, world without end. Amen. 
 
 A Prayer of St. Chrysostom. 
 
 A LMIGHTY God, Who hast given us grace at this time to make our com- 
 mon supplications unto Thee ; and dost promise that when two or three 
 are gathered together in Thy Name, Thou wilt grant their requests ; Fulfill 
 now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of Thy servants, as may be most ex- 
 pedient for them ; granting us in this world knowledge of Thy truth, and in 
 the world to come life everlasting. Amen. 
 
 2 Cor. xiii. : 14. 
 
 'T'HE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellow- 
 ship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen. 
 
 71 
 
The Sermon. 
 
 The following is the sermon delivered during this service 
 by the Right Reverend William Stevens Perry, D. D. 
 (Oxon.), LL. D., D. C. L., Bishop of Iowa, and a Chaplain 
 General of the Order of the Cincinnati. 
 
 " My strength will I ascribe unto Thee ; for Thou art the Ood of my refuge.^'' 
 
 — Ps. lix.: 9 (Prayer-Book Version). 
 
 From the Psalms of David, — the Uturgy of the Holy 
 Ghost, — the praise-service of the people, and the language of 
 individual thanksgiving, for the Church of old, and the Church 
 of to-day, as well, we take the text with which we would con- 
 secrate our theme : " My strength wiU I ascribe unto Thee ; for 
 Thou art the God of my refuge." The Christian recognizes the 
 hand of God guiding, controlling, supporting him in all his 
 ways. The Christian patriot ascribes his country's strength, its 
 support in adversity, its deliverance from troubles, its triumph 
 over its foes, unto the God of nations. Who is the refuge of 
 those who trust in Him. 
 
 Strikingly was this the feeling of our fathers at the period 
 of our history we recall to-day. The appeal to arms, out of 
 which our independence was won, our nationality secured, was 
 an appeal to Heaven for the defense and triumph of the right. 
 Those who directed our councils, those who fought our battles 
 in the war for independence, reverently ascribed their strength 
 unto God, and looked to Him as their refuge. The deep religious 
 enthusiasm of the Puritans of New England and the Church- 
 men of the Middle and Southern States cannot be overlooked 
 or ignored in any recital of the story of our struggle for 
 freedom. The patriot priest of the Valley of the Shenandoah, 
 who, at the close of a fervid appeal to his people to resist op- 
 
 72 
 
pression even unto blood, threw off his surplice and stood forth 
 before his parishioners in the garb of a soldier, ready to lead 
 them to the field, was but a single example of a wide-spread 
 feeling animating clergy and people alike in entering upon a 
 strife in which God alone could give to them, in their weakness, 
 the victory. Prayer consecrated every step of our forefathers 
 in their efforts for freedom. The pulpit uttered no uncertain 
 sound in its emphatic teaching that resistance to tyrants was 
 obedience to God. The priest went with his people to the field 
 of battle, and priest and people reverently ascribed their 
 strength to the God of their refuge. 
 
 The words and example of these patriot priests and preachers 
 produced a profound impression on the minds of those who 
 listened to the one, or felt the force of the other. Arousing, 
 as they did, a quiet but sustained determination, giving to the 
 strife the consecration of a holy war, there was needed only 
 a new Joshua to lead forth the Israel of God out of bondage, 
 into the glorious liberty of freemen in the sight of God and 
 men. This leader, chosen of God for this very purpose, and 
 mysteriously trained for the work assigned him of Heaven to 
 do, was given. Those who, in their conscious weakness, as- 
 cribed their strength unto God and recognized Him as their 
 refuge, were not disappointed in their deep religious reliance. 
 One was raised up to be a leader of the people, and the trust in 
 God which inspired them was the animating principle of his 
 life — the crowning glory of his career. 
 
 It was a Heaven-decreed requirement of the Hebrew law 
 that the husbandman, when gathering the harvestings of his 
 field, should leave here and there sheaves of the rich, ripe 
 grain for those who should follow in his path — those less favored 
 by Providence, less supplied with Nature's gifts. It is as a 
 gleaner that I venture to-day to follow in the track of so many 
 older, wiser, and more eloquent panegyrists of our Washing- 
 ton's character, and to bind a few golden grains dropped from 
 their richer handfuls, and lay them as a votive tribute on the 
 altar sacred to his memory. Though conscious of my inability 
 to do justice to the occasion or the theme now thriUing all 
 patriotic souls with memories of the past and good auguries 
 
 73 
 
for the future of our loved native land, I cannot but feel 
 the appropriateness and the beauty of this gathering and this 
 commemoration to-day. Fitting is it, for it becomes us to re- 
 member the Founder of our Order, the Father of his Country. 
 We are sons of the sires, — we fill the places, bear the names, 
 wear the coveted distinction of those who gathered as more 
 than friends about the hero of our war for independence, who 
 were his companions in danger, and who were his loyal sup- 
 porters in the peace following successful war. Rightly does 
 it fall to us, members of the Order of the Cincinnati, to give to 
 this great national celebration its key-note, anticipating all 
 the land in the grateful recognition of the God-given example 
 of him who was first in war, first in peace, and who shall ever 
 be first in the hearts of his countrymen. 
 
 Fitting indeed it is that at the expiration of a hundred years, 
 we should pause on the threshold of a new period of national 
 existence to inquire whence came our fathers' strength, and 
 to thank the God Who was their refuge, and Who blessed them 
 with unlooked-for success. 
 
 There is a beauty in this act of ours. We turn aside from 
 our accustomed acts of prayer and praise, to renew, in this con- 
 secrated spot where our honorable Order was wont of old to 
 meet for solemn services of praise and prayer, our allegiance 
 to principles for which our fathers shed their blood, and to offer 
 thanksgivings to our God, through Whom the principles of 
 our Order have been maintained and established for a hundred 
 years. In our grateful recognition of the greatness of our 
 Washington, we gladly recall the fact that it was his trust in 
 God that made him what he was — " of all great men, the most 
 virtuous and the most fortunate."' Not merely as a soldier^ 
 not alone as a patriot, not simply because a hero, but as a 
 Christian, fearing God and keeping His Commandments, we 
 accord to " this imperial man," — " this unblemished gentle- 
 man," our grateful remembrance to-day. 
 
 At such a time as this, and on this sacred day, we may well 
 consider the evidence afforded in the life and deeds and words 
 of Washington to his personal trust in God ; his walking in 
 
 1 Guizot. 
 
 74 
 
^God's ways, and his keeping of God's commandments, Born 
 at a time, when, in his home and family, the greatest reverence 
 was shown to the forms and usages of rehgion, the record of his 
 baptism is still extant, and there is no reason to doubt that he, 
 who, at the font in the old Pope's Creek Church was made "a 
 member of Christ, the Child of God, and an inheritor of the 
 Kingdom of Heaven," was, by the pious care and teachings of 
 parents and god-parents, instructed not alone in "the Creed, 
 the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments," but in those 
 "other parts of the Church's Catechism" which a child "ought 
 to know and believe to his soul's health." It was at a time 
 when the training and disciplining of the home took the place 
 of the public school or the academy of a later day, and so, 
 up to his twelfth year, the young Washington had the loving 
 care and oversight of his parents. On the death of his excel- 
 lent father, this care devolved upon his mother and his 
 uncle ; and, in addition to this home training and the instruc- 
 tion received in the old field school, kept by the sexton of 
 the parish church, it is probable that he attended the minis- 
 trations of the Rev. Archibald Campbell, the uncle of the 
 poet, and was, possibly, a pupil at his school in Washington 
 Parish, Westmoreland County. While with his mother at 
 Fredericksburg, there can be no question of his attendance 
 upon the services of her faithful parish priest, the Rev. James 
 Mayre, whose Huguenot blood and personal consecration made 
 him one of the most devoted of the clergy of the day. While 
 at school the young Virginian was noticeable for his abhor- 
 rence of the practice of fighting among the boys, and was 
 wont, by personal influence, or by more direct interference, 
 to prevent indulgence in this brutal pastime. At the age of 
 thirteen, he drew up from works he had read, a number of 
 resolutions for the conduct of his life. We find among these 
 aphorisms the following : " When you speak of God or His 
 attributes, let it be seriously in reverence;" "Labor to keep 
 alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called 
 conscience;" "Honor and obey your parents, whatever may 
 be their condition." Two years later his filial piety was 
 shown in his relinquishment, at his mother's desire, of his 
 
 75 
 
purpose of entering the British navy, in strict fulfilhnent of 
 this latter resolution, based on "the Commandment with 
 promise. " 
 
 Besides the Bible, with which he was singularly famihar, 
 and the Bible's best interpreter, the Book of Common Prayer, 
 Washington had listened at his mother's knee, if we may 
 credit tradition, to the reading of such suggestive works as 
 " Discourses on the Common Prayer," and Sir Matthew Hale's 
 "Contemplations, Moral and Divine." The latter work, well 
 styled by Washington Irving "a precious volume," is still 
 preserved at Mount Vernon, and the same authority assures 
 us that "its admirable maxims sank deep in the mind of 
 Washington, and were exemplified in his conduct through 
 life." 
 
 The youth thus trained proved worthy of his teachers and 
 true to the lessons of religion and morality they taught. We 
 are not surprised to find him, in his early manhood, when 
 at the head of an expedition against the French and savages, 
 counselled by his "paternal adviser," Mr. Wilham Fairfax of 
 Belvoir, in these words: "I will not doubt your having public 
 prayer in the camp, especially when the Indian families are 
 your guests, that they, seeing your plain manner of worship, 
 may have their curiosity to be informed why we do not use 
 the ceremonies of the French ; which, being well explained to 
 their understandings, will more and more dispose them to 
 receive our Baptism and unite in strict bonds of cordial friend- 
 ship." This was in the camp at Fort Necessity, at the Great 
 Meadows, in the Alleghany Mountains, and it was certainly, 
 as Irving well describes it, ' ' not one of the least striking 
 pictures presented in this wild campaign — the youthful com- 
 mander, presiding with cahn seriousness over a motley assem- 
 blage of half-equipped soldiery, leathern-clad hunters and 
 woodsmen, and painted savages with their wives and children, 
 and uniting them all in solemn devotion by his own example 
 and demeanor." ' 
 
 For several consecutive years, Washington was engaged in 
 this border warfare, and during this period, according to the 
 
 1 Vol. I., page 129. 
 76 
 
testimony of one of his aids, he was accustomed to read 
 prayers on Sunday to his troops, thus supplying the place of 
 a chaplain. On the recall of Governor Dinwiddle, "Washington 
 addressed the President of the Council in these words: "The 
 Assembly, in their Supply Bill, provided for a chaplain to our 
 regiment. On this subject I had often, without any success, 
 applied to Governor Dinwiddle. I now flatter myself that 
 your honor will be pleased to appoint a sober, serious man 
 for this duty. Common decency, sir, in a camp, calls for the 
 services of a divine, which ought not to be dispensed with 
 although the world may think us void of religion and incap- 
 able of good instruction." We are all famihar with the fact 
 of his reading by the light of a torch at night the OflBce for 
 the Burial of the Dead, over the body of General Braddock, 
 after the disastrous defeat at Monongahela; and we cannot 
 for a moment doubt the personal trust in God of the man 
 who in writing famiharly of this battle to his brother could 
 say: "By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have 
 been protected beyond all probability or expectation; for I had 
 four bullets through my coat and two horses shot under me, 
 and yet escaped unhurt." 
 
 In 1759 "Washington married, and, in the same year, took his 
 seat in the House of Burgesses. He became, at the outset of his 
 domestic life, interested in the promotion of the interests of the 
 Church ; and the old vestry-book of Truro parish affords abun- 
 dant proof of his personal share in the erection of those historic 
 shrines known as Payne's and Pohick Churches. "We find the 
 young vestryman and churchwarden occupied in sending a 
 friend and neighbor to England for holy orders, in procuring a 
 glebe, and in fitting up a home for the newly -chosen pastor and 
 priest. It is in keeping with his interest in the work of his 
 parish that we learn of his gifts for the adornment of the 
 church, the site of which he himself had chosen; and of his 
 importation from England of pulpit cushions and altar cloths 
 of crimson velvet with gold fringe, and folio Prayer Books, 
 bound sumptuously in morocco, and lettered in gilt with the 
 parish name. 
 
 "While thus occupied in promoting the temporal interests of 
 
 77 
 
the Church, it is the testimony of his rector, the Rev. Lee 
 Massey, that he was equally attentive to his spiritual duties. 
 "I never knew," writes the Rev. Mr. Massey, "so constant an 
 attendant on church as Washington. His behavior in the house 
 of God was ever so reverential that it produced the happiest 
 effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted me in my 
 pulpit labors. No company ever kept him from church." 
 Abundant testimony is given that he was a frequent and devout 
 recipient of the holy communion of the body and blood of 
 Christ. 
 
 In 1774 the House of Burgesses appointed a day of fasting 
 and prayer, in view of the state of the country, and the private 
 diary of Washington contained this entry: "June 1, Wednes- 
 day. Went to church and fasted all day." In September of 
 this eventful year, Washington was in Philadelphia in attend- 
 ance upon the Continental Congress, to which he was a dele- 
 gate. His diary records his regular attendance at church ; and 
 tradition tells us that at the calling in of the celebrated Rev. 
 Jacob Duche, the rector of Christ Church and St. Peter's, to 
 read prayers before this Congress, at perhaps the most critical 
 moment of its deliberations, Washington alone of the delegates 
 knelt when the Church's familiar words of supplication were 
 used. 
 
 On the very day after taking command of the Continental 
 Army, in 1775, the following order was issued : " The General 
 requires and expects of all officers and soldiers not engaged in 
 actual duty, a punctual attendance on Divine service, to im- 
 plore the blessings of Heaven upon the means used for our 
 safety and defence." On the 15th of May, 1776, Congress hav- 
 ing appointed a day of humiliation and prayer, the following 
 order was given : " The General commands all officers and 
 soldiers to pay strict obedience to the order of the Continental 
 Congress, that by their unfeigned and pious observance of their 
 religious duties they may incline the Lord and Giver of victory 
 to prosper our arms." He forbade gambling, drunkenness, and 
 profanity — "wicked practices hitherto but little known in the 
 American Army," adding, "We can have but little hope of the 
 blessing of God if we insult Him by our blasphemies, vices so 
 
 78 
 
low and without tempj;ation that every man of sense and char- 
 acter detests them. 
 
 In anticipation of a n impending battle, he thus addresses his 
 soldiers : " The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under 
 God, on the courage and conduct of the army. Let us rely upon 
 the goodness of the cause, and the aid of the Supreme Being, in 
 Whose hand victory is, to animate and encourage us to noble 
 actions." 
 
 In a letter to Benjamin Harrison, a fellow Virginian and 
 Churchman, in 1778, he says : " Providence has heretofore taken 
 care of us when all other means seemed to be departing from 
 us." 
 
 We find him referring his successes to "that Divine Provi- 
 dence which has manifestly appeared in our behalf during our 
 whole struggle;" while in alluding to his reverses he adds : 
 " All would have been lost but for that bountiful Providence 
 which has never failed us in the hour of distress." Again he 
 writes: " The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous that 
 he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more 
 than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his 
 obligations." 
 
 On the proclamation of peace, in the year 1783, memorable 
 as the year of the inauguration of our illustrious Order, the 
 General called upon the Chaplains of the forces "to render 
 thanks to God for His overruling the wrath of man to His 
 own glory, and causing the rage of war to cease." A few 
 months later he concluded a letter to the Governors of the 
 States with the "earnest prayer that God may have you and 
 the States over which you preside in His holy protection; that 
 He would incline the citizens to obedience to government, to 
 entertain a brotherly love for one another, for their fellow-citi- 
 zens of the United States in general, and particularly for those 
 who have served in the field; that He would be pleased to dis- 
 pose them to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean them- 
 selves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper which 
 were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed 
 religion, without an humble imitation of Whose example in 
 these things we can never hope to be a happy nation." 
 
On the 30th of April, A.D. 1789, in his inaugural address 
 to both Houses of Congress, the Father of his Country used 
 these words : 
 
 " It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent 
 supplication to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides 
 in the councils of nations, and whose providential aid can supply every human 
 defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of 
 the people of the United States, a government instituted by themselves for these 
 essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administra- 
 tion to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering 
 this homage to the great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself 
 that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own ; nor those of my fellow- 
 citizens at large, less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and 
 adore the invisible Hand, which conducts the ailairs of men, more than the people 
 of the United States. 
 
 " Every step, by which they had advanced to the character of an independ- 
 ent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. 
 And, in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united 
 government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct 
 communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the 
 means by which most governments have been established, without some retm-n of 
 pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which 
 the past seems to presage." 
 
 Referring again, at the close of his address, to his sense of 
 dependence on Almighty God, he used this language : 
 
 ' ' Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened 
 by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave, but not 
 without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race, in humble 
 supplication that, since He has pleased to favor the American people with oppor- 
 tunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with 
 unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their Union, 
 and the advancement of their happiness ; so His divine blessing may be equally 
 conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise 
 measures on which the success of this government must depend." 
 
 And in responding to the answer of the Senate to his speech, 
 he further added : 
 
 " Thus, supported by a firm trust in the Great Arbiter of the universe, aided 
 by the collected wisdom of the Union, and imploring the divine benediction on 
 OUT joint exertions in the service of our country, I readily engage with you on the 
 arduous but pleasing task of attempting to make a nation happy." 
 
 Language such as this — like recognition of a superintending 
 Providence — occurs again and again in his addresses, the gene- 
 
 80 
 
ral orders, the private letters, the diaries, the personal memor- 
 anda of Washington. They are the expressions of an individual 
 trust in God, which, shown in his earliest years and displayed 
 throughout his public career, was strikingly aflBrmed in that 
 "Farewell Address" which was his invaluable legacy to his 
 countrymen. It is among his last councils, written at a time 
 when infidelity was rampant, and the Church, of which he was 
 a baptized and communing member, was reduced to its lowest 
 straits, that we have this expression of "Washington's profound 
 conviction of the necessity of religion and the evil tendency of 
 unbelief : 
 
 " Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion 
 and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tri- 
 bute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happi- 
 ness, these firmest projis of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, 
 equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could 
 not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be 
 asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of 
 religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation 
 in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that moral- 
 ity can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the 
 influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experi- 
 ence both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of 
 religious principles." — Farewell Address. 
 
 To these outspoken attestations of his personal trust in God 
 as his strength and refuge, we may add the testimony of those 
 who knew him best, the members of his family and household, 
 the intimate associates of his public and private life, that he 
 was, as his friend and biographer, Chief-Justice Marshall, 
 asserts, "a sincere believer in the Christian faith and a truly 
 devout man." His reverence for the Lord's day, his habitual 
 reading of the Word of God, his daily private meditation and 
 prayer, his unostentatious but abundant charities, his regular 
 attendance at church, and his reception from time to time of the 
 holy communion of the body and blood of Christ afford addi- 
 tional proof, if further proof were wanting, of his possession, 
 to use his own phrase, "of genuine vital religion." 
 
 Is it to be wondered, then, that when the "last enemy" came 
 the patriot could say, "I am not afraid to go" ? The strength 
 which had been his through life was not to fail him now. His 
 
 81 
 
place of refuge was in the Everlasting Arms. The Word of God 
 was on his bed when he died. She who so often shared with 
 him the holiest offices of their common faith ministered to his 
 dying wants. His last words were, '"Tiswell." He closed his 
 own eyes, folded his arms across his breast and "fell asleep." 
 
 Our view of the character of our Founder would be incom- 
 plete without allusion to the sagacity and patriotism with which 
 he sought the consolidation of the union between the States by 
 the adoption of the Constitution, under which, with slight 
 changes, we have been so strikingly blessed and prospered by 
 God for a hundred years. It is as the true founder of the con- 
 stitutional union of the United States that we may accord to 
 our Washington our grateful remembrance to-day. As the 
 leader of the Continental Army — as the one man of all others 
 highest in the confidence of all classes of his countrymen, we 
 may say with the historian Bancroft, "Without him the Union 
 ivould never have been formed. " More than any other man he 
 did to win for us our independence. To this he added the 
 further glory of making that freedom worthy of our possessing, 
 in securing for us the Constitution and the Union of the States. 
 True to his country ; true to his trust in God, who was his 
 .strength and his refuge ; true to training and to himself, what 
 more can we add to our tribute of grateful praise to God for the 
 'Christian character and consistent patriotism of Washington ? 
 
 I have alluded to the appropriateness of our assembling in 
 this house of God, where, in the early days of the republic, our 
 fathers, members of the Order of the Cincinnati, were wont to 
 meet in recognition of the glory and goodness of their God. 
 Here, on the Fourth of July, 1788, the members of our Order 
 listened to the earnest and eloquent words of William Duer. 
 Here, on the Fourth of July, 1789, our own Hamilton, claruin 
 et venerabile nomen, delivered an eulogium on Nathanael 
 Greene before a brilliant assembly, the President being pre- 
 vented by severe illness from attending, but Lady Washmgton 
 and family occupying yonder pew, ever sacred to patriotic 
 memories. 
 
 On Monday, July 5, 1790, the President General of the So- 
 ciety and President of the United States, our beloved Washing - 
 
 82 
 
ton, attended here the oration of Henry Brockholst Livingston^ 
 on themes appropriate to the day. Again and again have the' 
 membersTof our honorable Order assembled here in recognition 
 of their trust in God, who was their strength and refuge ; and 
 around these sacred walls many of our well remembered and 
 illustrious dead await in the dust of the earth the resurrection; 
 to eternal life. 
 
 Ah ! Brethren, we at least will ascribe our strength unto 
 God who was our fathers' refuge, and whose love and care will 
 not fail us now or in the time to come. The share taken by 
 our Order in the adoption and support of the Constitution of 
 our beloved native land is not to be overlooked on a day and at 
 a time like this. From the period of its institution in the year 
 of peace, 1783, to the day of the inauguration of its President 
 General as President of the United States, the Order of the 
 Cincinnati was the only organization in the land devoted to 
 "promoting and cherishing between the respective States that 
 Union and National Honoi-, so essentially necessary to their 
 happiness and to the future dignity of the American empire." 
 This, the only political principle incorporated in the original 
 "Institution" of our honorable Order, found its realization in 
 the adoption of the Constitution under which God has been our 
 strength and refuge for a hundred memorable years. 
 
 To-day, Brothers of the Cincinnati, we reverently ascribe 
 unto our fathers' God and our own the praise and glory due 
 unto His holy Name. Mindful of the strength He gave to our 
 sires of old, and the refuge He has been in our times of trouble, 
 we will praise and bless and magnify Him forever. We wUl 
 ascribe unto Him worship as well as strength. The principles 
 for which our fathers fought, the freedom secured to us by 
 their labors and their Uves ; the lessons of trust in God and 
 recognition of an all-wise and all-loving Father's care and 
 guidance ; — these shall be ours as patriots, as Christian sons of 
 Christian sires, in the years to come. As God has blessed our 
 fathers, so will we ask His blessing on ourselves and on those 
 who shall come after us till in the spread of freedom, limited 
 only by the decrees of iromutable right, of liberty protected 
 and preserved by law, the land for which our fathers lived and 
 
 83 
 
died shall be Indeed time's noblest offspring if its last — the 
 realization of the dreams of Christian patriots, the ideal com- 
 monwealth, outlasting empires and dynasties, and ending only 
 when the world itself shaU have passed away. 
 
 The celebration for the three following days consisted of a re- 
 ception of the President and Vice-President of the United States, 
 Cabinet, and Justices of the Supreme Court, by the Committee 
 on Navy of the General Centennial Committee, on the United 
 States steamer "Despatch," at Elizabethport, New Jersey, and 
 a great naval review of the United States ships of war and 
 mercantile marine in the upper harbor of New York, followed 
 by the disembarkation of the President and suite at Wall Street 
 Ferry, where the Committee on States, with a special military 
 escort and the " Society of the Sons of the Revolution," received 
 them and escorted them to the Lawyers' Club, where the Presi- 
 dent was given a reception which was participated in by the 
 Governors and Commissioners of States and Territories and 
 other official personages and citizens of distinction. 
 
 On the same evening a ball was given at the Metropolitan 
 Opera House. 
 
 For the next day, April 30, 1889, special services were held 
 at the site of the Old Federal Hall, corner of Nassau and Wall 
 Streets, and at Saint Paul's Chapel ; followed by a great military 
 review by the President, Hon. Benjamin Harrison, of the bat- 
 talions of the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Regular 
 Army, and Uniformed Militia and National Guard forces of the 
 several States, followed by a ball at the Metropolitan Opera 
 House in the evening. 
 
 84 
 
For the next day, May 1, 1889, a civic display and review of 
 trade and labor organizations, college and other associations, 
 followed by a special banquet to the President at the Metropoli- 
 tan Opera House in the evening. 
 
 For all these ceremonial reviews and entertainments, the 
 General Committee of the Centennial invited the Society of 
 the Cincinnati to send an official representation. 
 
 This official representation was as follows: 
 
 The Hon. Hamilton Fish, LL.D., President General of the 
 Cincinnati, eldest son of Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Nicholas Fish, Second Regiment New York Continental Line 
 of the Revolution. 
 
 Hon. Asa Bird Gardiner, LL.D., Secretary General of the 
 Cincinnati, great-grandson of Ensign Reuben Willard, Twenty- 
 fourth Regiment Continental Foot, and grand-nephew of First 
 Lieutenant and Regimental Quartermaster Jonathan Willard, 
 First Regiment New Hampshire Continental Infantry. 
 
 Mr. John Schuyler, Treasurer General of the Cincinnati, 
 great-grandson of Major-General Philip Schuyler of the Con- 
 tinental Army of the Revolution. 
 
 The Hon. Samuel Crocker Cobb, President of the Massa- 
 chusetts State Society of the Cincinnati, grandson of Lieutenant - 
 Colonel the Hon. David Cobb of Massachusetts, Aide-de-Camp 
 to General Washington to the close of the Revolution. 
 
 Mr. Henry Thayer Drowne, of the Rhode Island State Society 
 of the Cincinnati, grandson of Surgeon Solomon Drowne, M.D., 
 LL.D., of the Rhode Island Continental Line, vice the Hon. 
 Nathanael Greene, President of that State Society, who was 
 unable to attend, grandson of Major-General Nathanael Greene 
 of the Revolution. 
 
 The Hon. Clifford Stanley Sims, President of the New Jersey 
 State Society, great-grandson of Major John Ross, M.D., Second 
 Regiment New Jersey Continental Infantry. 
 
 The Hon. WiUiam Wayne, President of the Pennsylvania 
 State Society of the Cincinnati, great-grandson of Major-General 
 Anthony Wayne of the Continental Army of the Revolution. 
 
Colonel Oswald Tilghman, of the Maryland State Society of 
 the Cincinnati, grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Tench 
 Tilghman, Aide-de-Camp to General Washington to the close of 
 the Revolution, vice ex-Governor Robert Milligan McLane, 
 President of that State Society, who was abroad, grandson of 
 Captain Allan McLane, of the Delaware Continental Line of 
 the Revolution, who served in the Second Battalion Continental 
 Partizan Legion. 
 
 The Rev. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, D. D., President of 
 the South Carolina State Society of the Cincinnati, grandson of 
 Major Thomas Pinckney, First Regiment South Carolina Conti- 
 nental Infantry of the Revolution, afterwards Major-General of 
 the United States Army and President General of the Cincin- 
 nati ; also grand-nephew of Brevet Brigadier-General Charles 
 Cotesworth Pinckney, First Regiment South Carolina Conti- 
 nental Infantry of the Revolution, afterwards also Major- 
 General of the United States Army and President General of 
 the Society of the Cincinnati, in succession to Major-General 
 Alexander Hamilton, LL. D. 
 
 The Chairman of the Committee on Navy, on behalf of that 
 Committee, invited all the members of the Cincinnati present at 
 the commemoration to witness the Naval Review of April 39, 
 and accompany the U. S. steamer " Despatch," on board the 
 magnificent steamer " Sirius," which had been placed at the 
 disposal of the Committee on Navy for their own special invited 
 guests, including President Harrison's and Vice-President Levi 
 P. Morton's families. 
 
 Most of the members accepted this invitation, and were 
 handsomely entertained on board on behalf of the Navy Com- 
 mittee, this trip proving one of the most agreeable incidents of 
 the entire celebration. 
 
 The Chairman of the Committee on States, Mr. William 
 Gaston Hamilton (grandson of Alexander Hamilton), on be- 
 half of that Committee, invited all the members of the Cincin- 
 nati present at the commemoration to witness the Naval Review 
 on board the large steamer "Erastus Wiman," which had been. 
 
 86 
 
placed at the disposal of his Conunittee by the Committee on 
 Navy for accommodation of Governors and Commissioners of 
 States and other oflBcial personages and guests. 
 
 The Chairman of the Committee on States, on behalf of that 
 Committee, also invited all the Cincinnati present to the recep- 
 tion at the Lawyers' Club, and to accompany the President and 
 suite and Governors and Commissioners from "Wall Street Ferry 
 to that reception. 
 
 Accordingly, on disembarking at Wall Street Ferry, the 
 Cincinnati formed t'w o by two and accompanied the President 
 and suite under escort to the Lawyers' Club, taking position in 
 line immediately after Governors of States and Territories, 
 according to the precedent established by the Congress of the 
 United States at the celebration of the completion of the Wash- 
 ington Monument, at the Capitol, 22d February, 1885. 
 
 For the great military review of April 30th and civic review 
 of May 1st, 1889, the Chairman of the Committee on Navy pro- 
 cured from the Committee on Army, cards of admittance to the 
 grand stands for such of the Cincinnati as desired to witness 
 them, and nearly all availed themselves of the opportunity. 
 
 For the Loan Exhibition of historical portraits and relics at 
 the Metropolitan Opera House, the Chairman of the Committee 
 on Navy procured from the Committee on Art and Exhibition 
 cards of admission for such members as desired to avail them- 
 selves of it. 
 
 With the conclusion of this notable National Commemoration 
 and Celebration of an event of the highest importance to the wel- 
 fare and happiness of the people of the United States, the Cin- 
 cinnati had the pleasing consciousness that they had adequately 
 and appropriately performed their duty in the premises. 
 
 ffinfs. 
 
 87 
 
Committees on the Centennial Celebration, April 30, 1889, 
 
 of the 
 
 Inauguration of George Washington as President 
 of the United States. 
 
 HAMILTON FISH,* President. HUGH J. GRANT, Chairman. 
 
 ELBRIDGE T. GERRY, Chairman Executive Committee. 
 
 CLARENCE W. BOWEN, Secretary. 
 
 No. I.— PLAN AND SCOPE. 
 
 Hugh J. Grant, Chairman, Cornelius N. Bliss, 
 
 Abram S. Hewitt, Frederick S. Tallmadge, 
 
 James M. Varnum,* Samuel D. Babcock. 
 
 No. a.— STATES. 
 
 William G. Hamilton, Chairman. Jacob A. Cantor, 
 
 James C. Carter, E. Ellery Anderson, 
 
 John Schuyler,* Floyd Clarkson, 
 
 J. Tallmadge Van Rensselaer, Henry W. LeRoy, 
 
 James W. Husted, John B. Pine, 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt, Samuel Borrowe, 
 James M. Montgomery,* Secretary. 
 
 No. 3.— GENERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 John A. King, Chairman, Frederick J. DePeyster, 
 
 John Jay, Wiluam H. Robertson, 
 
 Edward Cooper, Cornelius Vanderbilt. 
 
 William H. Wickham, William M. Evarts, 
 
 William R. Grace, Frank Hiscock, 
 
 Seth Low, Secretary. 
 
 No. 4.— ARMY (Military and Industrial Parade). 
 
 S. Van Rensselaer Cruger, Chairman, J. Hampden Robb, 
 John Cochrane,* Frederick Gallatin, 
 
 1,ocke W. Winchester, Frederick D. Tappen, 
 
 John C. TomlinsON, Secretary. 
 
 * Hereditary Members of the Society of the CincinnatL 
 
 89 
 
No. 5.— NAVY. 
 
 Asa Bird Gardiner,* Chairman, Captain Henry Erben, U. S. N., 
 
 John S. Barnes, Ogden Goelet, 
 
 George G. Haven, John Jay Pierrepont, 
 
 Jackson S. Schultz, Loyat.l Farragut, 
 
 D. Willis James, Alfred C. Cheney, 
 
 Frederick R. Coudert, Buchanan Winthrop, 
 S. Nicholson Kane, Secretary. 
 
 No. 6.— ENTERTAINMENT. 
 
 Stuyvesant Fish, Chairman, William B. Beekman, 
 
 William Waldorf Astor, S. L. M. Barlow, 
 
 William K. Vanderbilt, Stephen H. Olin, 
 
 William Jay, William E. D. Stokes, 
 
 Egerton L. Winthrop, Ward McAllister, 
 
 Robert Goelet, Gouverneur Morris, Secretary. 
 
 No. 7.— FINANCE. 
 
 Brayton Ives, Chairman, John Sloane, 
 
 Darius O. Mills, James D. Smith, 
 
 Richard T. Wilson, Edward V. Loew, 
 
 William L. Strong, Eugene Kelly, 
 
 Henry B. Hyde, Walter Stanton, 
 
 James M. Brown, John F. Plummer, 
 
 Louis Fitzgerald, J. Edward Simmons, 
 
 Allan Campbell, John Jay Knox, 
 DeLancey Nicoll, Secretary. 
 
 No. 8.— RAILROADS AND TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 Orlando B. Potter, Chairman, Josiah M. Fisk, 
 
 Chauncey M. Depew, Clifford Stanley Sims,* 
 
 Erastus Wiman, Thomas S. Moore, 
 
 Charles W. Dayton, James Duane Livingston, Secretary. 
 
 No. 9.— art and exhibition. 
 
 Henry G. Marquand, Chairman, Frank D Millet, 
 
 Gordon L. Ford, Vice-Chairman, H. H. Boyesen, 
 
 Daniel Huntington, Charles Henry Hart, 
 
 F. HoPKiNsoN Smith, Rutherford Stuyvesant, 
 
 William E. Dodge, John L. Cadwalader,* 
 
 Charles Parsons, Lispenard Stewart, 
 
 A. W. Drake, Charles H. Russell, Jr., 
 
 Oliver H. Perry, Richard W. Gilder, Secretary, 
 
 No. lo.— literary exercises. 
 Eleridge T. Gerry, Chairman, Clarence W. Bovven, Secretary. 
 
 * Hereditary Members ol the Society of the Cincinnati. 
 
 90 
 

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