done, (for the Prejudice of the People against the Gratuity of five
years pay began to subside) had they not adopted a Plan so disgustfull
to the Common Feeling. It appears wonderful that they could imagine a
People who had freely spent their Blood & Treasure in Support of their
equal rights & Liberties, could so soon be reconciled to the odious
hereditary Distinction of Families. This Country must be humiliated &
debased to a great Degree, before they will patiently bear to see
Individuals stalking with their assumed honorary Badges, & proudly
boasting "These are the Distinctions of our Blood." I cannot think that
many of our Officers entertained such an Idea of haughty Pre-eminence;
but the human Mind is so captivated with the Thought of being elevated
above the ignoble Vulgar, that their Sons, if they should not
themselves, when they perceive the Multitude grown giddy with gazing,
may assume more than the mere Pageantry of Nobility. When Men begin to
applaud themselves, they are not easily perswaded to believe they can
take a greater Share of Honor than justly belongs to them. They will be
pleasd with the Adulatory Addresses of other Men & flatter themselves
that they are intitled to Power and Authority as well as the
ostentatious Show of Superiority above their Equals. I confess I do not
barely dislike the order. With you I think it dangerous & look upon it
with the Eye of Jealousy. When the Pride of Family possesses the Minds
of Men it is threatning to the Community in Proportion to the Good they
have done. The unsuspecting People, when they are in a Mood to be
grateful, will cry up the Virtues of their Benefactors & be ready to
say, Surely those Men who have done such great things for us, will
never think of setting up a Tyranny over us. Even Patriots & Heroes may
become different Men when new & different Prospects shall have alterd
their Feelings & Views; and the undiscerning People may too late repent
that they have sufferd them to exalt themselves & their Family upon the
Ruins of the Common Liberty. The Cincinnati are very unpopular here;