All, then, must have looked forward to some further bond of
union, which would insure internal peace, and a political system of our
own, independent of that of Europe. Whether all should be consolidated
into a single government, or each remain independent as to internal
matters, and the whole form a single nation as to what was foreign only,
and whether that national government should be a monarchy or republic,
would of course divide opinions, according to the constitutions, the
habits, and the circumstances of each individual. Some officers of the
army, as it has always been said and believed, (and Steuben and Knox
have ever been named as the leading agents,) trained to monarchy by
military habits, are understood to have proposed to General Washington,
to decide this great question by the army before its disbandment, and
to assume himself the crown, on the assurance of their support.
The indignity with which he is said to have scouted this parricide
proposition, was equally worthy of his virtue and wisdom. The next
effort was, (on suggestion of the same individuals, in the moment of
their separation,) the establishment of an hereditary order, under
the name of the Cincinnati, ready prepared by that distinction to be
engrafted into the future frame of government, and placing General
Washington still at their head. The General wrote to me on this subject,
while I was in Congress at Annapolis, and an extract from my letter is
inserted in 5th Marshall's History, page 28.
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