Member Log In
MENU
ABOUT
HISTORY
ACTIVITIES
MEMBERSHIP
GENERAL SOCIETY
CONTACT

Meetings of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey

Standing Committee

General Heard, General Doughty, Colonel Rhea, Captain Phillips, General Beatty, Colonel Ogden, Captain Shute.

Delegates to the General Society

Brigadier-General Jonathan Dayton, Major-General Joseph Bloomfield, Brigadier-General John Beatty, Brigadier-General John Doughty, Colonel Aaron Ogden.

By-Laws, Rules and Amendments

Resolved that the Standing Committee shall in future consist of seven members, and that four of whom shall be a quorum to do business.

Finance

The Standing Committee have examined the accounts of the Treasurer and find the sum of $5,373.46 of six per cent, stock; and the sum of ^2.12^.2,7 of the deferred stock of the United States, including the sum of $294.20, purchased by the Treasurer since the last meeting, and also the sum of $9.98 of the three per cent, stock arising from the finuling of a final settlement note, $40 paid forward by William Lloyd. Esq.

The Treasurer has received in addition to the balance of $84.05. reported to be in his hands the last year, the sum of $429.00. being interest and dividend of the public stock of the Society, and the further sum of $41.28 arising from the funding of the final settlement note before mentioned, amounting in the whole to $555.23.

That he hath paid the sum of $210.84 ft)r the purchase of the deferred stock as above reported : for the expenses of the Society at the last anniversarv at Trenton, the sum of $115.17; by order of the Society, the simis of $4, to the Rev. James F. Armstrong, and $30 to Gen. Bloomfield for defraying the funeral and other expenses of Maj. John HoUinshead, deceased, and of $40, transmitted to Lieut. Abraham Stout, making in the whole $400.01. There remains a balance in cash in his hands of the sum of $155.20.

Miscellaneous

The Secretary being absent, Captain Pennington was requested to act in his place.

A communication from the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina proposing sundry amendments to the constitution of the Society was read.

Likewise a communication from the Secretary-General of the Society, relative to the letter of the General Society of May, 1796, was read together with the letter to which it referred.

Resolved, that Captain Nathaniel Leonard be suspended from this Society until the 4th of July. 1802.

The letter and extract of the Journal of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina being read a second time, and this Society being of the opinion that to ensure uniformity the alterations proposed to be introduced into the original constitution, ought to be discussed in the General Society.

Resolved, therefore, that any amendments or alterations in the Institution of the Cincinnati Society which may be concurred in by the representatives of seven State Societies in the General Meeting, shall be obligatory upon, and inviolably observed by the New Jersey State Society, although they should not be represented therein.

Resolved, that the Secretary transmit the foregoing resolution to the President of the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina.

The President reported that the Committee appointed for that purpose presented the address of this Society to the President of the United States and that the following answer was returned, viz :

To the Members of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey, Gentlemen :

I thank you for this address. It was impossible for you to assemble on the 4th of July for the purpose of perpetuating your friendships and commemorating together the great events, which gave independence to these United States, without feeling the deep impression of the present state of the nation and the interesting prospect before it.

The entire satisfaction of your Society with my administration of the Government, and in particular as it relates to the injuries and insults that have been received from the French Republic, is very dear to me; the assurance of your readiness again to take the field in obedience to the call of your Country, in vindication of its national honor, and in support of that sovereignty for the establishment of which you patiently endured the toils, hardships and dangers of an eight years war, is very satisfactory to me.

The duration and severity of that future struggle you have in contemplation, will depend in some measure upon the powers of Europe. If a combination should be formed, to arrest the progress of the most dangerous and destructive power that ever threatened the liberties of Europe, your exertions may be less distressing but if the principal remaining barrier to French tyranny should be broken down, America must prepare for a severer trial than she ever experienced. If Americans are capable of intestine divisions which can assist such an enemy, in such a cause, all our past lives and labors have been in vain. I hope and believe better things of my countrymen, and place the utmost reliance on the sincerity of your declaration, when you offer on the altar of your country the services which may be derived from that knowledge and experience in military affairs acquired by you in the last war. May new and still more glorious victories if necessary for the rights of your country and mankind be still in store for you, under that renowned veteran and beloved chief, whose appointment could not fail to fill your hearts with the most enthusiastic joy and transport.

Philadelphia, July 6, 1798. JOHN ADAMS.

Ordered, that Captain Kollock, General Seely, Lieut. Pennington and Major Ford be furnished with their respective diplomas.

Major Ford’s diploma is not to be delivered until his original subscription to the Treasury be paid.