The following officers of foreign countries held general rank in the Continental army under commissions from Congress:

To allay the suspicion, which soon gained ground throughout the country, that the new order was designed to foster an aristocracy, based on military achievements and hereditary succession, and that such an order would be inimical to republican institutions, the Cincinnati, at the first general meeting of the Society, held in Philadelphia on the 17th of May, 1784, reorganized and revised its by-laws of government. Washington favored the changes and submitted his views in writing. Amendments embodying these views were promptly adopted and the constitution amended accordingly. The alterations thus effected may be summed up as follows:

Discontinuance of the hereditary part absolutely; admission of no more honorary members; and the rejection of subscriptions or donations from any person not a citizen of the United States.

KING'S MOUNTAIN.

October 7, 1780.

BY MARSHALL DELANCEY HAYWOOD.

Fierce Ferguson came marching down
And pitched his tents at Gilbert Town,
Within the Old North State;

No man who viewed his strong array,
Upholding Britain's iron sway,

Could then foresee his fate.

He bade his messengers proclaim
A pardon, in King George's name,
To each repentant foe;

And tales they told on every hand
Of how the rebels brought the land
To misery and woe-

"Georgia has yielded to the Crown,
The old Palmetto flag is down,

New England sues for peace;
Upon Virginia's rugged shore
Our reinforcements daily pour,
So let your treason cease."

Then spoke an acient mountaineer:
"Naught of New England can we hear,
But trust her valiant sons;

Those other States will share our fame
By helping us your pride to tame
With hunting-knives and guns.

"Our own McDowells, brave and true, Are forming now a rendezvous

On Quaker Meadows fair; Hambright, Lenoir, and Cleveland stout, With Vance and Winston have come out To join our forces there.

"Shelby and Williams, strong Sevier, And Chronicle, devoid of fear,

Are longing for the fray;

And trusty allies from afar

Are marching to the scene of war

With all their brave array.

"At home, in his Virginia glen,
Bold Campbell marshals now his men
To join us in the fight;

The State upon our southern side,
Where Lacey's daring troopers ride,
Is rising in her might.

"And far away, on Georgia hills,
Hammond and Clarke resent the ills
Our country undergoes;

They even now, with grim intent,
Are on this deadly errand bent
To strike our tyrant foes.

"So let your gasconading Scot
Beware the Deckard rifle's shot,
We know its use full well!
And how we'll track him to his lair,
Leaving his lifeless body there,

The future years shall tell."

The speaker paused; then saw afar
The crippled spy, young Joseph Kerr,
Come limping on his way:
He ran to meet that scout so bold,
Whose tidings (in a whisper told)
Described the King's array-

"Our foes decamped within the night
And on yon mountain's lofty height
Have fortified their post;
They revel there with song and wine,
And even swear the Power Divine
Shall not molest their host."

The old man answered: "Let them stay! Tomorrow, at the break of day,

We'll seek the Redcoats there;

And Ferguson shall sorely rue
The time his base marauding crew
First breathed our western air."

The morrow's clouds hung low and still
As up the steep and rugged hill
A thousand hunters sped;
With rifles pouring fire and smoke,
Through bayonets they fiercely broke,

And piled the ground with dead.