WASHINGTON TO HAMILTON.
Mount Vernon, December 11, 1785.
Dear Sir:
I have been favored with your letter of the twenty-third of November, by Major Fairly.
Sincerely do I wish that the several State societies had, or would adopt the alterations that were recommended by the general meeting, in May, seventeen hundred and eighty-four. I then thought, and have had no cause since to change my opinion, that if the society of the Cincinnati mean to live in peace with the rest of their fellow-citizens, they must subscribe to the alterations which were at that time adopted.
That the jealousies of, and prejudices against, this society, were carried to an unwarrantable length, I will readily grant; and that less than was done, ought to have removed the fears which had been imbibed, I am as clear in, as I am that it would not have done it. But it is a matter of little moment, whether the alarm which seized the public mind was the result of foresight, envy, and jealousy, or a disordered imagination: the effect of perseverance would have been the same. Wherein, then, would have been found an equivalent for the separation of interests which (from my best information, not from one State only, but many) would inevitably have taken place?
The fears of the people are not yet removed; they only sleep; and a very little matter will set them afloat again. Had it not been for the predicament we stood in with respect to the foreign officers and the charitable part of the Institution, I should, on that occasion, as far as my voice would have gone, have endeavored to convince the narrow-minded part of our countrymen, that the amor patriæ was much stronger in our breasts than theirs, and that our conduct, through the whole of the business, was actuated by nobler and more generous sentiments than were apprehended, by abolishing the society at once, with a declaration of the causes, and the purity of its intention. But the latter may be interesting to many, and the former is an insuperable bar to such a step.
I am sincerely concerned to find, by your letter, that the Baron is again in straitened circumstances. I am much disinclined to ask favors of Congress; but if I knew what the object of his wishes are, I should have much pleasure in rendering him any service in my power, with such members of that body as I now and then correspond with. I had flattered myself, from what was told me some time ago, that Congress had made a final settlement with the Baron much to his satisfaction.
I am, dear Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
G. Washington.
To Alex. Hamilton, Esq.