General Beatty, General Giles, General Rhea, Colonel Ogden, Major Ballard, Major Shute, Major S. M. Shute.
Dr. E. Boudinot, General Beatty, General Giles, Major Cox. General Cumming.
Joseph L. Barton, the third son of Capt. Wm. Barton, late an original member made application to be admitted a member of this Society in the place of Gilbert Barton, who was the representative of Capt. Barton. He was admitted.
The Standing Committee has examined the accounts of the Treasurer and find that the permanent funds of the Society consist of the sum of $10,000 of six per cent, stock, viz.:
Certificates of converted six per cent, stock of the United States loan office of the State of Pennsylvania for the sum of $2,400; seventy-six certificates of the Masonic Loan in $100 each.
The Committee reports that since the last settlement the Treasurer has paid to the order of the Society the sum of $465, and that there remains at this time a balance in his hands of $173.46. That there was due on the first day of this month arising from interest on its funds the sum of $264, and that there will accrue to the Society on the first day of January next, the further sum of $300, making a total sum of $733.44.
Resolved, That this Society accepts the bond offered by the Treasurer.
The Treasurer having informed the Society that $2,400 stock of the United States, part of the permanent funds of this Society, will be discharged by the General Government on the first day of January next.
Resolved, That he be authorized and required in this case to reinvest the same in such other stock as shall be deemed most advisable.
Resolved, That Dr. Boudinot, Gen. Rhea and Maj. Cox be a Committee to advise with the Treasurer in the disposition of the funds of this Society.
Ordered, That the Treasurer pay to Dr. E. Boudinot, Gen. Gumming, Gen. Giles and Gen. Beatty $20 each, being for their expenses in attending the General Society of Cincinnati, which sat in the City of Philadelphia in August last.
The Standing Committee beg leave to recommend that the following sums be disbursed for charitable purposes when the interest money in the hands of the Treasurer will admit, viz:
To Col. W. T. Stout, the sum of sixty dollars. To Mrs. R. Howell, for herself and children, to be placed in the hands of Genl. Rhea, sixty dollars. To Mrs. Elmer, for herself and children, to be placed in the hands of Genl. Giles, sixty dollars. To Mrs. Brooks, for herself and childrai, to be placed in the hands of Genl. Elmer, sixty dollars. Recommendations were adopted.
The Vice-President announced the death of Capt. Jacob Hyer and Mr. Gilbert Barton, two of its members, whereupon Resolved, that in honor of the memory of our deceased brethern, the Society will wear mourning by a crape on the left arm for the space of thirty days.
Doctor Boudinot on behalf of the Committee of Delegation to the General Society of the Cincinnati made the following report and laid before the Society the proceedings of the General Society of July and August, 1811, together with a circular letter addressed to the several State Societies which, being read and approved, ordered that the same be entered at large on the minutes of this Society and which are as follows, viz:
The Committee of Delegates to the General Society of the Cincinnati beg leave to report :
That they duly attended the meeting of the General Society held at Philadelphia on the seventh day of August last past, where the President General presided and delegates from four States duly attended; they spent five days in this service; after going through the usual business the Society agreed to a circular letter to be addressed to each State Society in the Union urging a more punctual attendance on the General Society and remonstrating against any appropriation of the funds of any State Society to any other purpose than that directed by the original institution.
The circular letter was forwarded to the Governor as our President and is annexed hereto together with a copy of the proceedings of the General Society.
Your Committee under a high sense of the excellent character of our President-General thought proper to present to him for his own private use a copy of the Constitution and Register which he accepted in the most grateful manner.
The President-General reported to the General Society.
That the diamond insignia of the order of the Cincinnati which has been presented by the Marine Officers of France, who were members of the Society to his Excellency, Genl. Washington, and by the heirs of the General had been sent to Genl. Hamilton, was delivered to him (Genl. Pinckney) by Mrs. Hamilton, and as he had conceived that this testimonial of respect for the immortal Washington which his heirs had delivered to Genl. Hamilton, and Mrs. Hamilton had been pleased to confide to him as President-General of the Society, ought, in respectful remembrance of her flattering distinction, to be hereafter considered as appurtenant to the office of President General, he requested that this memorandum might be inserted on the records of the General Society.
Whereupon it was unanimously Resolved, that the respectful and affectionate thanks of the General Society of the Cincinnati, be presented to Mrs. Hamilton for this highly acceptable present and that the wish of the President General, expressed in his memorandum, is respectfully acceded to by the Society.
It was moved by Dr. Boudinot, seconded by Genl. Beatty, that a Committee of three members be appointed to ascertain the present situation of the several State Societies and to make report to the General Society.
Friday, August 9, 1811.
The following report was read and unanimously agreed to, and it was ordered, that the circular letter be signed by the President and Secretary-General in behalf of the delegates.
In obedience to the resolve of the General Society which instructs your Committee to ascertain the present situation of the several state Societies of the Cincinnati, your Committee beg leave to report:
That as far as their limited enquiry extends, it appears on the information of some of its members, that a portion of the members of the State Society of the Cincinnati of Delaware have dissolved that Society and distributed its funds. And on less authenticated information it would also seem that portions of the members of the Connecticut and Virginia State Societies of the Cincinnati have also dissolved their Societies and diverted their funds from the purposes to which they were originally pledged. And that the other State Societies of the Cincinnati continue under the original Constitution as agreed on by the officers of the American army on the banks of the Hudson, in the year 1783.
Your Committee beg leave further to report that under a consideration of these circumstances they think it advisable to address a letter from the General Society of the Cincinnati to the respective State Societies ; the following draught of which they respectfully submit.
ELIAS BOUDINOT,
Chairman of the Committee and in their behalf.
And the following resolve was unanimously agreed to :
Resolved, that a certificate under the signature of the President General ceding letter to the Presidents of the respective State Societies or to such member thereof as will cause it to be laid before the said Societies, requesting at the same time that such information relative to the funds, members and officers of the said Societies as can be conveniently furnished, may be forwarded to the Secretary General.
Resolved, that a certificate under the signature of the President General and countersigned by the Secretary-General, be issued to the Chevalier de Segoud that he was regularly admitted a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. This certificate being granted to replace his diploma which has been lost.
Adjourned to meet at Philadelphia on the second Tuesday of September, 1812.
Extract from the records,
W. JACKSON, Secretary-General.
A copy of the circular letter mentioned in the above report addressed To the New Jersey State Society of the Cincinnati.
Urged by all the considerations which an endeared remembrance of the causes that led to the organization of the Society of the Cincinnati can suggest, and under an ardent wish to perpetuate the benevolent objects for which it was instituted, the delegates to the General Society now convened at Philadelphia, have resolved without reserve to communicate the sentiments with which they are deeply impressed to the several State Societies.
It is with extreme regret they state that the apprehension heretofore entertained and often expressed that the neglect on the part of several State Societies to appoint delegates to the General Society would be productive of the most serious consequence, is alarmingly realized by the inconsiderate act of a portion of the members of one or more State Societies in dissolving their official connection as members of the Cincinnati and in distributing those funds which had long ceased to be individual property or liable to any but their original appropriation. An act such as this must evidently involve a departure from the solemn engagement entered into on the banks of the Hudson to perpetuate the institution and to preserve unalienated and unimpaired those funds which had been sacredly devoted to the relief of distressed members and their families. That this deeply regretted cessation of intercourse between the General and State Societies has been the influential cause of these errors is our most serious conviction; and that the best corrective of these unconstitutional proceedings will be found in the immediate renewal of that endeared intercourse, no one who indulges the recollection of the scenes that passed in the service of our beloved country, can for a moment hesitate to believe.
It is therefore most earnestly recommended to the several State Societies that they would not only appoint delegates to attend the next meeting of the General Society, which will be held at Philadelphia on the second Tuesday of September, 1812, but that they would enjoin their punctual attendance as the most efficient means of restoring that harmony which ought forever to subsist between men who, as faithful comrades in honor and misfortune, most anxiously desire by the continuance of this Society, to transmit a grateful remembrance of their union and of those services by which the national claim to sovereignty and independence was established.
Done in General Society of the Cincinnati at Philadelphia, August 9, 1811.