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

The society was to retain its existence, its name, its meetings, and
its charitable funds: but these last were to be deposited with their
respective legislatures. The order was to be no longer hereditary; a
reformation, which had been pressed even from this side the Atlantic; it
was to be communicated to no new members; the general meetings, instead
of annual, were to be triennial only. The eagle and ribbon, indeed, were
retained, because they were worn, and they wished them to be worn, by
their friends who were in a country where they would not be objects
of offence; but themselves never wore them. They laid them up in their
bu