A circular Letter addressed to the State Societies of the Cincinnati, by the General Meeting, convened at Philadelphia, May 3. 1784. together with the Institution, as altered and amended.

We, the Delegates of the Cincinnati, after the most mature and deliverate Discussion of the Principles and objects of our Society, have thought proper to recommend that the inclosed “Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati, as altered and amended at their first meeting” should be adopted by your State Society.

In order that our Conduct on this occasion may stand approved in the eyes of the World, that we may not incur the Imputations of obstinacy on the one hand or Levity on the other, and that you may be induced more chearfully to comply with out Recommendation, we beg leave to communicate the Reasons on which we have acted. Previous to our laying them before you, we hold it a Duty to ourselves and to our fellow Citizens to declare, and we call Hear to witness the Veracity of our Declaration, that, in our    Agency on this Subject, we have been actuated by the purest Principles. Notwithstanding we are thus conscious for ourselves of the rectitude of our Intentions in instituting or becoming members of this Fraternity; and notwithstanding we are confident the highest Evidence can be produced from your past and will be given by your future Behaviour, that you could not have been influenced by any other motives than those of Friendship, Patriotism and Benevolence: yet, as our Designs, in some respects, have been misapprehended; as the Instruments of our association was of necessity drawn up in a hasty Manner at an Epocha as extraordinary as it will be memorable in the Annals of Mankind—when the mind agitated by a Variety of Emotions, was not at Liberty to attend minutely to every Circumstance which respected our social Connection, or digest our Ideas into so correct a form as could have been wished; as the original Institution appeared in the Opinion of many respectable Characters to have comprehended objects which are deemed imcimpatible with the genius and Spirit of the Confederation; and as in this Case it would eventually frustrate our Pruposes, and be productive of Consequences which we had not foreseen; therefore, to remove every cause of Inquietude, to annihilate every Source of Jealousy, to designate explecitly the Ground on which we wish to stand, and to give one more Proof that the late officers of the American Army have a Claim to be reckoned among the most faithful Citizens, we have agreed that the following material Alterations and Amendments should take Place; that the hereditary Succession should be abolished; that all Intercourse with political Subjects should be done away—and that the Funds should be placed under the immediate Cognizance of the several Legislatures, who should also be requested to grant Charters for more effectually carrying our humane designs into Execution.

In giving our Reasons for the alteration in the first Article we must ask your Indulgence while we recal your attention to the original occasion which induced us to form ourselves into a Society of Friends. Having lived in the strictest habits of Amity, through the various Stages of War, unparalled in many of its Circumstances—having seen the objects for which we contended, happily attained; in the moment of Triumph and Separation, when we were about to act the last pleasing melancholy Scene in our military Drama. Pleasing, because we were to leave our Country possessed of Independence and Peace, melancholy because we were to part, perhaps never to meet again; while every Breast was penetrated with feelings which can be more easily conceived than described; while every little Act of Tenderness recurred fresh to the recollection, it was impossible not to wish our Friendships should be continued—it was extremely natural to desire they might be perpetuated by our Posterity to the remotest Ages. With these Impressions and with such Sentiments, we candidly confess we signed the Institution. We know our Motives were irreprochable. But finding it apprehended by many of our Countrymen, that this would be drawing an unjustifiable Line of Discrimination between our descendants, and the rest of the Community, and averse to the Creation of unnecessary and unpleasing Distinctions, we could not hesitate to relinquish every thing but our personal Friendships, of which we cannot be divested; and those Acts of Beneficence, which it is our Intention should flow from them.

With Views equally pure and disinterested, we proposed to use our Collective Influence in support of that Government, and Confirmation of that Union, the Establishment of which had engaged so considerable a Part of our Lives: but, learning from a Variety of Information that this is deemed an officious and improper Interference, and that if we are not charged with having sinister designs, yet we are accused of arrogating too much, and assuming the Guardianship of the Liberties of our Country: thus Circumstanced, we could not think of opposing ourselves to the concurring opinions of our fellow-Citizens however founded, or giving Anxiety to those whose Happiness it is our Interest and Duty to promote.

We come next to speak of the charitable Part of our Institution, which we esteem the Basis of it. By placing your funds in the hands of the Legislatures of your State, and letting them see the Application is to the best purposes, you will demonstrate the Integrity of your Actions as well as the Rectitude of your Principles. And having convinced them your Intentions are only of a friendly and benevolent Nature, we are induced to believe they will patronize a design which they cannot but approve; that they will foster the good Dispositions and encourage the beneficient Acts of those who are disposed to make use of the most effectual and most unexceptionable made of relieving the distressed. For this Prupose it is to be hoped that Charters may be obtained in Consequence of the applications which are directed to be made. It is also judged most proper that the Admission of Members should be submitted to the Regulation of such Charters; because, by thus acting in conformity to the Sentiments of Government, we not only give another Instance of our Reliance upon it, but of our Disposition to remove every Source of uneasiness respecting our Society.

We trust it has not escaped your attention, Gentlemen, that the only objects of which we are desirous to preserve the Remembrance, are of such a nature as cannot be displeasing to our Countrymen, or unprofitable to Posterity: we have retained accordingly those Devices which recognize the manner of returning to our Citizenship; not as ostentatious marks of discrimination, but as pledges of our Friendship and emblems whose appearance will never permit us to deviate from the paths of Virtue. And we presume, in this place it may not be inexpedient to inform you, that these are considered as the most endearing tokens of Friendship and held in the highest Estimation by such of our allies as have become intitled to them, by having contributed their personal Services to the Establishment of our Independence, that these Gentlemen who are among the first in rank and reputation; have been permitted by their Sovereign to hold this grateful Memorial of our Reciprocal Affections. And that this fraternal Intercourse is viewed by that illustrious monarch, and other distinguished Characters, as no small additional Cement to that Harmony and reciprocation of good offices, which so happily prevail between the two Nations.

Having now relinquished whatever has been found objectionable in our original Institution, having by the defference thus paid to the prevailing Sentiments of the Community neither, as we conceive, lessened the Dignity, nor diminished the Consistency of Character, which it is our Ambition to support in the eyes of the present as well as of future Generations; having thus removed every possible objection to our remaining connected as a Society, and Cherishing our mutual Friendships to the close of Life; and having as we flatter ourselves retained in its utmost latitude, and placed upon a more certain and permanent foundation that primary article of our association which respects the unfortunate. on these two great original Pillars, Friendship and Charity, we rest our Institution; and we appeal to your Liberality, Patriotism, and Magnanimity—to your Conduct on every other occasion, as well as to the Purity of your Intentions on the present, for the Ratification of our proceedings. At the same time we are happy in expressing a full Confidence in the Candor, Justice and Integrity of the public that the Institution as now altered and amended will be perfectly satisfactory, and that Acts of legislative Authority will soon be passed to give Efficacy to your Benevolence.

Before we conclude this adress permit us to add, that the Cultivation of that Amity we profess and the Extension of this Charity, we flatter ourselves, will be objects of sufficient Importance to prevent a Relaxation in the prosecution of them to diffuse comfort and support to any of our unfortunate Companions, who have seen better Days and merited a milder Fate—to wipe the tear from the eye of the Widow, who must have been consigned, with her helpless infants, to Indigence and wretchedness, but for this charitable Institution, to succour the fatherless, to rescue the female orphan from Destruction, to enable the Son to emulate the Virtues of his father, will be no unpleasing Task; it will communicate happiness to others, while it encreases our own; it will chear our solitary Reflections, and sooth our latest Moments. Let us, then, prosecute with Ardour what we have instituted in Sincerity; let Heaven and our own Consciences approve our Conduct, let our Actions be the best comment on our Words; and let us leave a Lesson to Posterity, that the Glory of Soldiers cannot be compleated, without acting well the part of Citizens. Signed by order,

The Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati, as altered and amended at their first general Meeting—

It having pleased the supreme Governor of the Universe, to give success to the Arms of our Country, and to establish the United States free and Independent: Therefore gratefully to commemorate this Event to inculcate to the latest ages the duty of laying down in Peace, arms assumed for public defence, by forming an Institution which recognizes that most important Principle, to continue the mutual Friendships which commenced under the pressure of common danger, and to effectuate the Acts of beneficience, dictated by the spirit of brotherly kindness, towards those Officers and their families, who unfortunately may be under the necessity of receiving them; the Officers of the American Army do hereby constitute themselves into a Society of Friends: And, possessing the highest veneration for the Character of that illustrious Roman, Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus denominate themselves

Section 1st. The Persons who constitute this Society are all the Commissioned and brevet Officers of the Army and Navy of the United States, who have served three years, and who left the Service with Reputation; all Officers who were in actual Service at the conclusion of the War all the principal staff Officers of the Continental Army and the Officers who have been deranged by the several resolutions of Congress, upon the different reforms of the Army. Section 2nd. There are also admitted into this Society, the late and present Ministers of his most Christian Majesty to the United States all the Generals and Colonels of regiments and legions of the land forces; all the Admirals and Captains of the Navy ranking as Colonels, who have co-operated with the Armies of the United States, in their exertions for Liberty; and such other Persons as have been admitted by the respective State Meetings. Section 3d. The Society shall have a President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Assistant-Secretary. Section 4th. There shall be a Meeting of the Society at least once in three years, on the first Monday in May, at such Place as the President shall appoint.

The said Meeting shall consist of the aforesaid Officers (whose expences shall be equally borne by the State Funds and a representation from each State.

The business of this general meeting shall be to regulate the distribution of surplus Funds to appoint Officers for the ensuing Term, and to conform the bye Laws of State Meetings to the general Objects of the Institution. Section 5th. The Society shall be divided into State Meetings: each Meeting shall have a President, Vice President, secretary and Treasurer respectively; to be chosen by a Majority of Notes annually. Section 6th. The State Meetings shall be on the Anniversary of Independence. They shall concert such measures as may conduce to the benevolent purposes of the Society: and the several state-meetings shall, at suitable periods, make application to their respective legislatures for grants of Charters. Section 7th. Any Member removing from one state to another, is to be considered in all respects, as belonging to the meeting of the State in which he shall actually reside. Section 8th. The State Meeting shall judge of the qualification of its members, admonish, and (if necessary) expel any one who may conduct himself unworthily. Section 9th. The Secretary of each State-meeting shall register the Names of the Members resident in each State and transmit a Copy thereof to the Secretary of the Society. Section 10th. In order to form funds for the relief of unfortunate members, their Widows and Orphans, each Officer shall deliver to the Treasurer of the State meeting one months pay. Section 11. No donations shall be received but from Citizens of the United States. Section 12th. The Funds of each State meeting shall be loaned to the State by permission of the legislature, and the Interest only, annually to be applied for the purposes of the Society: and if in process of time, difficulties should occur in executing the Intentions of the Society, the legislatures of the several States shall be requested to make such equitable dispositions as may be most correspondent with the original design of the Institution. Section 13. The Subjects of his most Christian Majesty members of this Society, may hold meetings at their pleasure, and form regulations for their police, conformably to the objects of the institution, and to the spirit of their Government. Section 14. The Society shall have an Order; which shall be a Bald Eagle of Gold, bearing on its breast the Emblems hereafter described, suspended by a deep blue ribband edged with white, descriptive of the Union of America with France: the principal figure Cincinnatus; three Senators presenting him with a sword and other military ensigns; on a field in the back Ground, his wife standing at the door of their Cottage; near it a plough, and other instruments of husbandry. Round the whole, Omnia relinquit servare rempublicam on the Reverse, Sun rising—a city with open Gates, and Vessels entering the Port—Fame crowning Cincinnatus with a wreath, inscribed, virtutis pramium: below, Hands joining, supporting a heart—with the motto Esto perpetua: Round the whole, Societas Cincinnatorum instituta A.D. M,DCC,LXXXIII Section 15th. A Silver Medal, representing the Emblems, to be given to each Member of the Society; together with a Diploma on Parchment, whereon shall be impressed the figures of the Order and Medal, as above mentioned—