The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

432 LIFE OF WASHINGTON. [1787.
the first general meeting, which was held at Philadelphia in May, 1784, Washington exerted himself successfully to have the most objectionable features altered, and the articles of association were new modelled
conformably to his suggestions. After these changes
the alarmists were less vehement in their attacks; but
they were not silenced, and the society continued to
be looked upon with jealousy and disapprobation.
A second general meeting was to take place in
Philadelphia at the time appointed for the assembling
of the convention. Before receiving notice that he
was chosen a delegate, Washington had written a
circular letter to the branches of the Society in the
different States, declaring his intention to resign the
presidency, and giving reasons why it would be inconvenient for him to attend the general meeting. He
thought himself thus placed in a delicate situation.
Were he to be present at the convention, the members of the Cincinnati Society might suppose they had
just grounds for suspecting his sincerity, or even of
charging him with having deserted the officers, who
had so nobly supported him during the war, and always manifested towards him uncommon respect and
attachment. Having a grateful sense of their affection,
and reciprocating in reality all their kind feelings, he
was reluctant to put himself in a condition, by which
their favorable sentiments would be altered, or their
sensibility in any degree wounded.
Again, some of his friends, in various parts of the
country expressed themselves doubtingly in their letters, as to the propriety of his going to the convention, and some advised against it. Many thought the
scheme illegal, since there was no provision in the articles of the confederation for such a mode of revision,
and it had not been proposed by Congress. It was